M©WI©©M 


THE   HISTORY 


IROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


1?AM  FERGUSON,  LL.D,, 

PROFKVlrfli   Or   MORAL    PHILOSOPHY    IN   THE    UNIVER- 
SITY   OF    EDINBURGH. 


A    h*^   EDITION,    ABRIDGED. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPBR   m   BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS 
1873. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


FERGUSON'S  History  of  the  Roman  Republic  is  a 
noble  work.  Like  the"  government  which  it  describes 
it  is  simple  and  strong.  It  is  one  of  the  best  digested 
histories  that  ever  was  penned,  the  narrative  gliding 
along  easily,  limpidly,  and  majestically  in  one  con- 
tinuous stream.  Pure  in  its  diction,  clear  in  its 
ftyle,  copious  in  its  illustrations,  consistent  in  its 
*iews,  felicitous  and  just  in  its  discoveries  of  the 
-*iore  latent  springs  of  action,  the  History  of  the 
loman  Republic  forms  a  perfect  mirror  of  the  arena 
vhich  it  portrays.  Embracing,  as  it  does,  the  most 
nomentous  period  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and 
describing  the  transactions  of  the  most  important 
portion  of  the  human  family  then  living,  it  does 
ample  justice  to  the  spirit-stirring  currents  of  war 
and  conquest,  of  civil  convulsion,  and  political  re 
volution,  with  which  that  people  were  agitated,  and 
in  which  that  period  abounds. 

To  the  publishers  it  appeared  that  an  abridgment 
of  this  work  would  be  of  signal  service  to  the  young, 
and  to  such  as  are  circumscribed  in  their  opportunities 
for  reading.  With  this  view  the  present  volume 
was  prepared.  It  is  reduced  to  one-third  of  the 
extent  of  the  original  work,  preserving  as  much  as 
possible  of  its  style  and  diction.  Much  pains  and 
attention  have  been  bestowed  on  it,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  it  deserves,  and  will  receive,  the  approbation  of 
a  judicious  and  enlightened  public. 

NOVEMBER,  1836 


384546 


NOTICE. 


THE  reader  will  be  pleased  to  observe,  with  respect 
to  the  geographical  names  used  in  the  following 
History,  that  the  Author  has  endeavoured  to  conform 
Himself  to  common  practice.  This  is  so  various  as 
not  to  admit  of  any  general  rule.  Rome,  Athens, 
Italy,  and  Greece,  are  used  for  Roma^  Athena,  Italia, 
and  Grecia;  but  France,  Hungary,  and  Savoy,  are  not 
used  for  Gaul,  Panonia,  or  the  Allolroges*  Cities 
and  races  of  men  have  changed  so  much,  that  we 
cannot  employ  modern  names  in  speaking  of  the 
ancients,  except  where  custom  absolutely  requires  it. 
But  the  natural  features  of  the  earth,  as  rivers,  seas, 
and  mountains,  being  unchanged,  are  expressed  by 
the  modern  name,  except  where  they  are  better 
known  by  their  ancient  appellations,  as  in  the  geo- 
graphy of  Greece,  Asia,  and  Africa.  This  mixture 
of  ancient  and  modern  language  may  appear  excep- 
tionable ;  but  it  is  hoped  that  the  general  intention,  to 
render  the  subject  as  clear  as  possible,  will  be  an 
excuse  for  any  particular  difference  of  opinion  in  the 
choice  of  names. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 

•AM 

CRAP,  i— The  fubject— Supposed  Origin  of  the  Roman  State— Ms 
Government— The  K  ing—  Senate—  People—  Curiae— Centuries— 
Tribes — Religion — The  Triumph — Census — Progress  ef  the  State 
under  its  Kings— Change  to  a  Republic,  ...  1 
CHAP.  «. — Form  of  the  Republic — Dissension  of  Parties — First 
Dictator — Secession  of  Plebeians— Tribunes  of  the  People — 
Their  Objects — Distribution  of  Corn — Division  of  Lands — Pre- 
tensions of  the  Plebeians — Commission  to  compile  Laws — Decem- 
virs— Twelve  Tables — Intermarriages  of  Ranks — Claim  of  the 
Plebeians  to  the  Consulate — Military  or  Consular  Tribnnes — 
Censors — Ediles — Prefectus  Annonae — Fortune  of  the  Republic- 
Reduction  of  Veiae—  Destruction  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls-.Re- 
buildingoftheCity, • 

CHAP,  m.— Scene  of  foreign  War  and  domestic  Dispute  opened 
with  reviving  Rome — Faction  or  Conspiracy  of  Manlius — Con- 
demnation—Plebeians elected  into  the  office  of  Consular  Tribune* 
— Aspire  to  the  Consulate— The  first  Plebeian  Consul — Establish. 
ment  of  the  Pretor— Patrician  Ediles— The  Plebeians  qualified  to 
hold  all  the  offices  of  state— The  Measure  of  Roman  Magistracy 
complete— Review  of  the  Constitution— Its  seeming  Defect%— 
But  great  Success — Policy  of  the  State  respecting  foreign  or  van- 
quished Nations — Formation  of  the  Legion — Series  of  Wars — 
With  the  Samnites — Campanians — The  Tarentines — Pyrrhus — 
Sovereignty  of  Italy— Different  Footing  on  which  the  Inhabi- 
tants stood 29 

CHAP,  rr.— Limits  of  Italy— Contiguous  Nations— Ligurians— 
Gauls— Greek  and  Phoenician  Colonies  of  Gaul  and  Spain— Na- 
tions of  Illyricum— Of  Greece— Achaean  league— Thebans— 
Athenians — Asiatic  Nations  —  Pergamus  —  Syria — Egypt — Car  • 
thage— The  Mamertines  of  Messina— Occasion  of  the  first  War 
with  Carthage— Losses  of  the  Parties— Peace— State  of  the  Ro- 
mans— Political  or  Civil  Institutions — Colonies — Musters — Ope- 
rations on  the  Coin — Different  Results  of  the  War  at  Rome  and 
Carthage — Mutiny  and  Invasion  of  the  Mercenaries  at  Carthage 
—End  of  this  War— Cession  of  Sardinia— War  with  the  Illyrians 
— First  Correspondence  of  Rome  with  Greece,  .  .48 

CHAP,  v.— Progress  of  the  Romans  within  the  Alps— Origin  of  the 
second  Punic  War— March  of  Hannibal  into  Italy— Progress- 
Action  on  the  Tecinus— On  the  Trnbia— On  the  Lake  Thrasirco  • 


PAOB 

nus— Battle  of  Cannae— Sequel  of  the  War—  Scipio's 
Operations — Battle  of  Zama — End  of  the  War,  .        .    56 

CHAP.  vi. — State  of  the  Peace  with  Carthage — War  with 
the  Gauls  —  Macedonians  —  Battle  of  Cynocephalae — 
Peace  —  Freedom  to  Greece  —  Preludes  to  the  War 
with  Antiochus — Hannibal  flees  to  that  Prince — Anti- 
ochus  passes  into  Europe — Dispositions  of  the  Romans 
— Flight  of  Antiochus — His  defeat  at  Sipylus — Peace 
and  Settlement  of  Asia — Roman  Affairs  at  Home,  &c.,  93 

CHAP,  vii.— State  of  Italy— Roman  Policy— Death  of 
Scipio  and  of  Hannibal— Indulgence  of  the  Romans  to 
the  King  of  Macedonia — Complaints  against  Philip — 
Succession  of  Perseus,  and  origin  of  the  War — Action 
on  the  Peneus — Overtures  of  Peace — Defeat  of  Perseus 
—His  flight  and  Captivity— Settlement  of  Macedonia 
and  Illyricum — Manners  of  the  Romans,  .  .  .111 

BOOK  IV. 

CHAP.  I.— State,  Manners,  and  Policy  of  the  Times- 
Complaints  from  Carthage — Hostile  Disposition  of  the 
Romans  —  Resolution  to  remove  Carthage  from  the 
Coast — Carthage  destroyed — Revolt  of  the  Macedoni- 
ans—Macedonia reduced  to  a  Roman  Province— Fate 
of  the  Achean  League — Operations  in  Spain — Conduct 
of  Viriathus — Blockade  of  Numantia — Its  Destruction 
—Revolt  of  the  Slaves  in  Sicily— Legal  Establishments 
and  Manners  of  the  city,  .  .  .  .  .  .  124 

CHAP.  ii. — Extent  of  Roman  Empire— Political  Charac- 
ter of  its  Head— Its  advance — Change  of  Character, 
Political  as  well  as  Moral — The  People  or  Commons — 
Dangerous  Humours  likely  to  break  out — Appearance 
of  Tiberius  Gracchus — His  project  to  revive  the  law  ot 
Licinius — Disputes  in  the  Comitia — Deposition  of  the 
Tribune  Octavius— Commissioners  appointed  for  the 
Division  of  Lands — Tiberius  Gracchus  sues  to  be  re 
elected  Tribune — His  Death — Proceedings  of  Carbo — 
Embassy  of  Scipio — Foreign  and  Domestic  Affairs,  .  147 

CHAP  in. — State  of  the  Italian  allies — Appearance  of 
Caius  Gracchus — Resolution  to  purge  the  city  of  Aliens 
— Consulate  of  Fulvius  Flaccus — Conspiracy  of  Frige- 
lice  suppressed — Caius  Gracchus  returns  to  Borne — 
Offers  himself  candidate  for  the  Tribunate— Tribunate 
of  Caius  Gracchus  —  Re-eleotion  -  Propoeal  to  admit 
the  inhabitans  of  Italy  on  the  Rolls  of  Roman  Citizens 
— Popular  acts  of  Gracchus  and  Livius — The  Senate  be- 
fia  to  prevail— Death  of  Cains  Gracchus  and  Fulvius,  162 


CONTENTS.  Ttt 

MM 

COAP.  nr.— State  of  Order  and  Tranquillity  which  followed  the 
Suppression  of  the  late  Tumults— Appearance  of  Caius  Marius— 
Foreign  Wars— Complaints  against  Jugurtha— Appearance  of  the 
Cimbri— War  with  Jugurtha— Campaign  and  Treaty  of  Piso— 
Jugurtha  comes  to  Rome  with  a  Safe- Conduct— Obliged  to  retire 
f rom  thence— Campaign  of  Metellus- Of  Marius-Jugnrtha  be- 
trayed by  Bocchus— His  Death,  after  the  Triumph  of  Marius— 
This  General  Re-elected,  in  order  to  Command  against  the 
Cimbri, 173 

CHAP.  v. — Review  of  the  Circumstances  which  revived  the  Popu- 
lar Party— Farther  Account  of  Laws  and  Regulations  under  their 
Administration— State  of  the  Empire— Fourth  Consulate  of  Ma- 
rius —  Continued  Migrations  of  the  Barbarous  Nations  —  De- 
feated by  Marius  at  Aquae  Sextiae— By  Marius  and  Catulus  la 
Italy, 188 

CHAP,  vi.— Character  and  immoderate  ambition  of  Marius  —  Death 
of  Nonius— Re-election  of  the  Tribune  Saturninus  -  His  Sedi- 
tion and  seizing  the  Capitol — Death  of  the  Conspirators  —  Re- 
verse in  the  State  of  Parties  —  Recall  of  Metellus— Birth  of  Caius 
Julius  Caesar— Lex  Caecilia  Didia— Sylla  offers  himself  Candi- 
date for  the  office  of  P  re  tor — Renewal  of  the  War  in  Spain  and 
of  that  in  Thrace  —  Edict  of  the  Censors  against  the  Latin  Rhe- 
toricians—Acts of  Livius  Drusus  — Revolt  of  the  Italian  Allies 
—  Policy  of  the  Romans  in  yielding  to  the  Necessity  of  their 
Affairs,  ........  10k 

CHAP.  vn. — Triumph  of  Pompeius  Strabo— Progress  of  Sylla  — 
War  with  the  King  of  Pontus— Rise  of  that  Kingdom —Appoint- 
ment of  Sylla  to  Command  —  Policy  of  the  Tribune  Sulpicius  — 
Sylla's  Commission  Recalled  in  Favour  of  Marius  —  His  march 
from  Campania  to  Rome— Expels  Marius  and  his  Faction  from 
the  City— His  Operations  in  Greece— Siege  of  Athens— Battle  of 
Chaeronea— Of  Orchomenos — Transactions  at  Rome — Policy  of 
Cinna — Marius  Recalled  —  Cinna  flies,  and  is  deprived  -  Recovers 
the  possession  of  Rome— Treaty  of  Sylla  with  Mithridates— He 
passes  into  Italy — Is  opposed  by  numerous  Annies — Various 
Events  of  the  War  in  Italy — Sylla  prevails — His  Proscription 
or  Massacre— Named  Dictator— His  Policy — Resignation  and 
Death, 2M 

BOOK  III. 

CHAP.  i. — Stateof  the  Commonwealth  —  Characters  of  Persons  who 
began  to  appear  in  the  Times  of  Sylla—  Faction  of  Lepidus — 
Sertorius  harbours  the  Marian  Party  in  Spain  — Is  attacked  by 
Metellus  and  Pompey— His  Death,  and  final  Suppression  of  the 
Party —  First  appearance  of  C.  Julius  Caesar— Tribunes  begin  to 
trespass  on  the  Laws  of  Sylla— Progress  of  the  Empire — Prepa- 
rations of  Mithridates— War  with  the  Romans— Irruption  into 
Bithynia— Siege  of  Cyzicus— Raised— Flight  of  Mithridates— 
Luajllus  carries  the  War  into  Pontus— Rout  and  Dispersion  of 


*1H  CONTENTS. 

MM 

the  Anny  of  Mithridates— His  Flight  into  Armenia— Conduct  ef 
Lucullus  in  the  Province  of  Asia,  .  .          .  .232 

CHAP,  ii.— Escape  and  Revolt  of  the  Gladiators  at  Capua— Spar- 
tacus — His  Defeat  of  Lcntulns  and  of  Cassius — Appointment  of 
M.  Crassus  as  Pretor  of  Gaul— Destruction  of  the  Gladiators- 
Triumph  of  Metellus  and  Pompey— Consulship  of  Pompey  and 
Crassus— Tribunes  restored  to  their  former  Powers— Domestic 
policy  of  the  Consuls — Consulate  of  Metellus  and  Hortensius — 
War  in  Crete— Renewal  of  the  War  in  Pontus  and  Armenia- 
Defeat  of  Tigranes— Negotiation  with  the  King  of  Parthia— 
Mutiny  of  the  Roman  Army— Complaints  of  Piracies  committed 
in  the  Roman  Seas — Commission  proposed  to  Pompey — His  con 
duct  against  the  Pirates — His  Commission  extended  to  Pontus — 
Operations  against  Mithridates— Defeat  and  Fight  of  that  Prince 
— Operations  of  Pompey  in  Syria— Siege  and  Destruction  of  Jer- 
usalem—Death of  Mithridates,  .  .  .  .  .243 

CHAP.  in. — Growing  Corruption  of  the  Roman  Officers  of  State — 
The  love  of  Consideration  changed  for  Avarice,  Rapacity,  and 
Prodigality— Laws  against  Extortion— Catiline  a  Candidate  for 
the  Consulship— Conspiracy  with  Autronius— Competition  for  the 
Consulate — Election  of  Cicero  and  Antonius — Condition  of  the 
Times— Agrarian  Law  of  Rullus— Trial  of  Rabirius— Cabals  of 
the  Tribunes— Of  Catiline— His  Flight  from  the  City— Discovery 
of  his  Accomplices — Their  Execution,  ....  265 

CHAP.  ir. — Character  of  the  Times — Philosophy — Opposite  Tenets 
and  Votaries— Proceedings  of  the  Senate— Tribunate  of  Metellus 
Nepos,  and  of  Cato— Proposal  to  recall  Pompey  at  the  head  of 
his  Army  frustrated— His  arrival  in  Italy— And  Triumph,  .  27ft 

CHAP,  r.— Transactions  at  Rome,  and  in  the  Provinces— Julww 
Caesar  appointed  in  the  quality  of  Propretor  to  his  first  Province 
in  Lusitania — Trial  of  Clodius — Proposed  Adoption  into  a  Ple- 
beian Family  to  qualify  him  for  the  Office  of  Tribune— Caesar,  a 
Candidate  for  the  Consulship— The  Triumvirate  of  Czesar,  Pom- 
pey,  and  Crassus— Consulship  of  Caesar— Motion  of  Vatinius,  to 
confer  on  Csesar,  for  five  years,  the  Command  in  Gaul— Marriage 
of  Pompey  to  Julia— Of  Caesar  to  Calpurnia— Consulate  of  Lu- 
cius Calpurnius  and  A.  Gabinius— Attack  made  upon  Cicero  by 
Clodius— Cicero's  Exile,  .  .  .  .  .281 

CHAP,  vr.— Caesar  takes  possession  of  his  Province— Migration  of 
the  Helvetii— Their  Defeat— War  with  Ariovistus—  Return  of 
Csesar  for  the  Winter  into  Italy— Motion  to  recall  Cicero  from 
Exile — Disorders  that  followed  upon  it — Opposition  made  to  Clo- 
dius by  the  Tribune  T.  Annius  Milo— Augmentation  of  the  Army 
in  Gaul— Second  Campaign  of  Cesar— Operations  on  the  Aisne— 
On  the  Meuse  and  Sambre— Battle  with  the  Nervii— Successful 
Attempt  for  the  Restoration  of  Cicero— Controversy  relating  to 
his  House— Repeated  Riots  of  Clodius— Trial  of  Milo,  .  297 

CHAP,  vii.— Return  of  Cato  from  Cyprus— His  Repulse  at  the 
Election  of  Pretors— Arrival  of  Ptolemy  Auletes  at  Rome— Visit 
e*  Pompey  and  Crassus  to  Cesar's  Quarters  at  Lucca— Renewal 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAOB 

•f  (fair  Association — Military  Operations  in  Cesar's  Province — 
Violent  Election  of  Crassus  and  Pompey — Provinces — Of  Crassus 
in  Syria— Of  Pompey  in  Spain  for  five  years— Crassus  departs  for 
Syria, 308 

BOOK  IV. 

in  AP.  i. — State  of  the  Commonwealth — Administration  of  the  Pro 
vinces— Operations  of  Cesar  in  Gaul,  Germany,  and  Britain— 
State  of  Pompey  at  Rome— Progress  of  Crassus  into  Syria— King, 
dom  of  Parthia— Invasion  of  Crassns  beyond  the  Euphrates- 
Second  Invasion  of  Cesar  in  Britain,  .  .  .  .JIT 

CHAP,  ii.— Death  of  Julia  the  daughter  of  Cesar  and  wife  of  Pom- 
pey— Trial  of  Gabinius— Detection  of  an  infamous  Transaction 
of  Memmius  and  Ahenobarbus — Revolt  of  the  Low  Countries — 
Military  Execution  against  the  Inhabitants  cf  the  Country  be- 
tween the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse — Operations  of  Crassus  in  Me- 
sopotamia—His  Death— Competition  for  the  Consulate— Death 
of  Clodius— Riot  in  the  City—  Pempey  sole  Consul— Trial  of 
Milo, 323 

CHAP.  in. — Character  of  Pompey  in  capacity  of  sole  Consul — Pri- 
vilege of  Cesar  to  be  admitted  as  Candidate  for  the  Office  of 
Consul,  without  resigning  his  Province— General  Revolt  of  the 
Gauls— Operations  in  that  Country— Blockade  and  Reduction  of 
Alesia — Distribution  of  Cesar's  Army  in  Gaul,  .  .  -  3*1 

CHAP.  ir. — Cesar  remain*  in  Gaul — Pompey  assumes  Piso  into  the 
Office  of  Consul — Succession  of  Servius  Sulpicius  and  M.  Clau- 
dius Marcellus — Arrangement  for  the  Provinces — Motion  to  re- 
call Cesar — Continued  Debates  in  the  Senate — Operations  of  Ce- 
sar in  Gaul — Intrigues  in  the  City — Affairs  in  the  other  Provinces 
— Campaign  of  Cicero — Succession  of  Consuls — State  of  Parties 
in  the  City  and  in  the  Senate — Cesar  makes  a  Circuit  through  his 
Province — Parts  with  two  Legions  to  Pompey  and  the  Senate — 
Alarm  of  Cesar's  March— The  Consul  Marcellus  commits  his 
sword  to  Pompey,  .......  331 

CHAP,  v.— Decree  of  the  Senate  to  supersede  Cesar— Commission 
to  the  Consuls  and  to  Pompey— Their  Resolutions — Flight  of  the 
Tribunes  Antony  and  Quintus  Cassius — March  of  Cesar — Flight 
of  Pompey  and  the  Senate,  &c. — Approach  of  Cesar — Embarka- 
tion and  Departure  of  Pompey  from  Brundusium — Return  of 
Cesar  to  Rome— Passes  by  Marseilles  into  Spain— Campaign  on 
the  Segra — Legions  of  Pompey  in  Spain  conducted  to  the  Var,  36? 

CHAP.  vi. — The  Surrender  of  Marseilles — Cesar  named  Dictator — 
Quells  a  Mutiny  at  Placentia — Cesar  with  Servil.'us  Isauricus. 
Consuls— Forces  and  Disposition  of  Pompey—  Di-pmture  of  Cesar 
to  Brundusium— Transports  the  first  division  oi  his  Army  to 
Acroceraunus — Message  to  Pompey,  and  their  several  Operations 
The  Lines  of  Dyrrachium- Cesar  baffled  in  his  attempt  to  Invest 
Pompey— Action  and  Defeat  of  Cesar— His  Retreat— March  ot 
toth  Armies  into  Thewalv— Battlo  of  Pharsalia,  .  .  J?9 

B 


CONTENT*. 


CHAP,  vii.—  Comparative  Loss  on  the  different  Sides  In  the  late 
Action  —  Pompey's  Flight-  His  "Death—  Arrival  of  Cesar  at 
Alexandria—  Cato,  with  the  Fleet  and  remains  of  the  Army  from 
Tharsalia,  steers  fur  Africa—  State  of  Italy  and  of  the  Republican 
Party—  Adventures  of  Cesar  in  Egypt—  Victory  over  Pharnaces 
—  Arrival  in  Italy—  Passage  into  Africa—  His  Operations  and  Ac- 
tion with  the  Horse  and  Irregulars  of  the  Enemy—  Battle  of 
Thapsus—  Death  of  Cato,  ......  335 


BOOK  V. 

CHAT.  i. — Wreck  of  the  Republican  Party— Servility  of  the  Roman 
People— Magnificence  and  Administration  of  Cesar— His  last 
Campaign  in  Spain—  Death  of  the  elder  of  Pompey's  Sons— Ce- 
sar's Return,  Triumph,  Honours,  and  Policy  in  the  State— Spirit 
of  the  Times— Source  of  the  Conspiracy  against  Cesar— Its  Pro- 
gress— Death  of  Cesar,  ......  413 

CHAP,  ii.— General  Consternation  on  the  Death  of  Cesar— Tumul- 
tuary Assembly  of  the  People—  Declarations  of  Cinna  and  Dola- 
bella— Appearance  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the  Forum— Their 
Return  to  the  Capitol— Meeting  and  Debate  in  the  Senate -Act 
of  Oblivion— Speech  of  Brutus  to  the  People— Funeral  of  Cesar 
—Insurrection  of  the  People— Policy  of  Antony— Appearance  of 
Octavius— His  Difference  with  Antony— Both  have  recourse  to 
Arms— Aspect  of  Things— Antony  proceeds  to  expel  Decimus 
Brutus  from  the  Cisalpine  Gaul,  .  .  •  42? 

CHAP,  in.— Situation  and  Address  of  Octavius -Meeting  of  the 
Senate— Progress  cf  Antony— His  March  into  Gaul— Message  of 
Octavius  to  Decimus  Brutus- New  Consuls  Hirtius  and  Pansa 
—Meeting  of  the  Senate -Deputation  to  Antony— His  Answer— 
D-clared  an  Enemy- Advance  of  Hirtius  and  Octavius  to  Raise 
the  Siege  of  Mutira—  Brutus  and  Cassius  Confirmed  in  the  Com- 
mand of  all  the  Eastern  Provinces— Progress  of  the  War  in  Gaul 
— Siege  of  Mutinn  Raised— Junction  of  Antony  and  Lepidus— 
Consulate  of  Octavius,  ......  4-14 

OHAP.  iv.— Proceedings  of  the  New  Consul— State  of  the  Eastern 
'  Provinces— Interview  of  Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepidus,  with 
their  Coalition — The  Proscription  or  Massacre— Death  of  Cicero 

—  Sequel  of  the  Massacre-  Succession  of  Consuls  -Severe  Exac- 
tion of  Taxes— State  of  Sextus  Pompeius  — Movements  of  Antony 
and  Octavius  respectively  -  Both  bend  their  course  to  the  East 

—  Posture  and  Operations  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  -  Their  Arrival 
^  and  Progress  in  Europe  -  Campaign  at  Philippi  — First  Action 

*  and  Death  of  Cassius  -  Second  Action  and  Death  of  Brutus,  45C 
CHAT.  v. —  New  Partition  of  the  Empire  made  by  Octavius  and 
Antony — Progress  of  Octavius  at  Rome  — His  Friends  Mrecenaa 
and  Agrippa— Alarm  and  Distress  in  Italy  on  the  Dispossession 
of  the  Inhabitants  to  make  way  for  the  Troops  -  Jealousy  of  Ful- 
Tia  and  Lucius  As.tonius — Hostilities  and  Reduction  of  Perusia 


CONTEN1  jo 

MM 

—Progress  of  Antony  in  Asia  —  His  Stay  at  Alexandria  —Return 
to  I Uly— Accommodation  with  Sextus  Pompeius— Return  of 
Octavius  and  Antony  to  Rome— Their  Policy,  .  .  .40) 

CHAP.  vi. — Alarm  of  the  Parthian  Invasion  of  Syria— Arrange- 
ments of  Octavius  and  Antony  —  Departure  of  the  Latter,  and 
Residence  at  Athens  —  State  of  the  Commonwealth  —  Marriage  of 
Octavius  with  Livia  —War  with  Sextus  Pompeius —Actions  near 
the  Straits  of  Messina  -  Agrippa  succeeds  to  the  Command  of 
Octavius's  Fleet  -  His  Victory  at  Sea  -  Flight  of  Sextus  Pom- 
peius—Breach  between  Octavius  and  Lepidus,  .  .  -J7 

CHAP,  vii.— Forces  of  Octavius  after  the  Acquisition  of  Sicily, 
and  the  Junction  of  the  Armies  of  Sextus  Pompeius,  and  Lepi- 
dus —  Mutiny  and  Separation  of  these  Forces  —  His  Reform  of 
the  Army— Expedition  of  Antony  against  the  Parthians  -  His 
Retreat  — Open  Breach  between  Octavius  and  Antony  —  Opera- 
tions of  Antony  and  Octavius  on  the  Gulf  of  Ambracia  —  Battle 
of  Actium— Flight  of  Antony—  Immediate  Arrangements  of  Oc- 
tavius after  his  Victory  —  Death  of  Antony  —And  of  Cleopatra,  482 

BOOK  VI. 

CHAP,  i.— The  Merit  or  Demerit  of  Parties  in  the  latter  Period  of 
the  Roman  Republic  — Return  of  Octavius  to  Rome— His  Tri- 
umphs and  Public  Entertainments  —  Reform  of  the  Army — Pro- 
position to  resign  his  Power— Consultation  of  Agrippa  and  Mae- 
cenas—Preludes  to  the  pretended  Resignation  of  Octavius  — 
That  Resignation  itself —His  consent  to  retain  a  Part  in  the  Go- 
vernment of  the  Empire  — Distribution  of  the  Provinces — Title 
of  Augustus— The  Establishment  of  Augustus,  .  .  499 

CHAP,  ii.— State  of  the  Emperor— Condition  of  the  Empire- 
Amount  of  the  Revenue  unknown— Military  Establishments,  &c.  508 

CHAP,  in.— The  Family  and  Court  of  Augustus— His  pretended 
Resignation  of  the  Empire  renewed— The  Exercise  of  his  Power 
becomes  Jess  disguised— Death  of  Agrippa,  .  .  .514 

CIIAP.  i  r.— Marriage  of  Julia  with  Tiberius  Death  of  Drusus— 
Death  of  Maecenas— Disgrace  of  Julia— War  in  Panonia— Ro- 
man Legions  cut  off  in  Germany— Tiberius  Associated  in  tho 
Empire— Death  of  Augustus,  .  .  .  .  .52; 

*T;     - 

CHAP,  v.— The  Will  of  Augustus— Review  of  his  Reign— And  of 
his  Character— Tiberius  returns  to  Nola— Issues  without  delay 
his  Orders  throughout  the  Empire— In  the  Senate  affects  Reluc- 
tance to  charge  himself  with  the  Government— Mutiny  in  Pan- 
onia— On  the  Rhine — Second  mutiny  on  the  arrival  of  Deputies 
from  the  Senate— Imposture  of  Clemens— Plot  of  Libo— Descrip- 
tion of  Tiberius— Death  of  Germanicus,  and  Trial  of  Piso,  .  U 

CHAP,  vi.— Review  of  the  first  Period  in  the  Reign  of  Tiberius- 
Applications  of  Penal  Law— Disposition  of  Tiberius  to  a  reclus* 
Life— Place  and  Character  of  Sejanns—  Death  of  Drusus  Son  of 


the  Emperor— Retirement  of  Tiberias  to  the  Island  of  Csprese — 
Jealousy  of  the  Emperor  against  Agrippina  and  her  Children- 
Death  of  Li  via  Augusta — Design  formed  against  Sejanus — His 
Death — Prosecution  of  his  supposed  Accomplices — Artifices,  old 
Age,  and  Death  of  Tiberius, 55f 

UUAP.  vn. — Succession  of  Caius  to  the  Empire — The  first  Appear- 
ances of  his  Reign— Conclusion  of  the  History— Observations  on 
the  Sequel— Accession  of  the  Flavian  Family— Vicissitudes  of 
Character  in  the  Emperors— Sources  of  Degradation  in  the  Impe- 
rial Establishment— Preservatives  of  the  Empire— Iti  real  and 

though  almost  insensible  Decline.     .          .          .     W 


A   SUMMARY 


ROMAN  INSTITUTIONS. 


THE  following  account  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  the 
principal  offices  and  institutions  in  the  Roman  government, 
it  is  presumed,  will  be  found  very  useful  to  the  readers  of 
this  history. 

1.  ERA  OP  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME.    The  exact  date  of 
this  era  is  not  to  be  ascertained  with  any  degree  of  pre- 
cision, but  the  Roman  emperors  and  most  modern  chronolo- 
gists  refer  it  to  B.  C.  or  before  Christ  753 ;  which  therefore 
may  be  taken  to  be  the  true  date  of  the  era  of  the  foun- 
dation of  Rome.     It  is  designated  by  the  letters  U.  C.  urbe 
condita  "  from  the  building  of  the  city." 

2.  ROME  is  supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  Romulug 
who  became  its  first  king,  and  to  him  is  also  attributed  the 
original  scheme  of  its  government.  He  divided  the  people  into 
three  tnbet,  and  each  tribe  into  ten  curite,  he  also  divided 
the  people  into  two  orders,  the  patricians*  or  those  possessing 
a  certain  amount  of  wealth,  and  the  plebeians  or  the  people 
generally.  He  intended  that  all  dignities  should  be  confined 
to  the  patricians,  and  to  attach  the  two  classes  to  each  other 
by  mutual  bonds,  he  established  the  relation  of  patron  and 
client ;  which  was  that  each  plebeian  had  the  right  of  choosing 
a  patrician  for  his  patron,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  him 
from  oppression,  and  who  in  return  received  from  his  client 
certain  services.    He  also  instituted  a  senate  or  council  of 
100  members  selected  from  the  patricians,  to  whom  was 
given  the  power  to  IB 3  that  the  laws  were  enforced,  and  to 
consult  on  all  mat  lei  s  of  state  and  to  report  their  opinion  to 
the  people,  in  the  comitia  or  assemblies,  who  were  invested 
with  the  right  of  final  determination  in  all  matters  of  public 
importance. 

3.  To  the  three  tribes  into  which  the  city  was  first  divided, 
Serrius  Tullius  added  a  fourth ;  and  the  four  tribes  wer* 


xiv  SUMMARY  OF 

named  from  the  quarters  where  they  dwelt,  the  Palatine, 
Suburran,  Collatine,  and  Esquiline.  The  number  of  the 
tribes  was  afterwards  greatly  increased. 

4.  Besides  the  local  division  of  tribes,  Servius  distributed 
the  citizens  into  six  classes,  and  each  class  into  several  cen- 
turiet  or  portions  of  citizens,  BO  called,  not  because  they  con- 
sisted of  100,  but  because  they  were  obliged  to  furnish  and 
maintain  100  men  in  time  of  war.    The  six  classes  were 
formed  according  to  their  property ;  the  first  consisting  of 
the  richest  citizens,  and  the  sixth,  which  was  the  most 
numerous,  of  the  poorest.    The  whole  number  of  centuries 
was  193. 

5.  To  the  two  orders  of  patricians  and  plebeians,  there  was 
afterwards  added  the  equestrian  order,  composed  of  equites, 
or  knights,  who  were  chosen  under  the  direction  of  the 
censor,  and  presented  with  a  horse  at  the  public  expense, 
and  a  gold  ring.    They  were  taken  promiscuously  from 
those  of  the  patricians  and  plebeians,  who  had  attained 
their   eighteenth  year,  and  whose  fortune  amounted  to 
about  L.3000. 

6.  There  were,  besides,  other   distinctions   among  the 
Roman  people,  as  nobiles,  or  noble,  including  those  whose 
ancestors  had  held  the  office  of  consul,  praetor,  censor,  or 
eurule  edile,  and  who  had  a  right  to  make  images  of  them- 
selves.   The  homines  novi,  or  new  men,  were  persons  who 
were  the  first  of  their  families  that  had  raised  themselves  to 
any  of  the  above  offices.  The  ignobiles,  or  ignoble,  were  those 
who  had  no  images  of  their  own  or  of  their  ancestors. 
Those  whose  parents  had  always  been  free,  were  called 
ingenui;  and  those  who  had  been  slaves,  but  had  been  made 
free,  were  styled  liberti  and  libertinL 

7.  The  Roman  citizens  were  not  merely  those  who  resided 
in  the  city  and  Roman  territory,  but  the  freedom  of  the  city 
'was  granted  to  other  parts  of  Italy,  and  afterwards  to 
foreign  cities  and  towns  in  the  empire,  whose  inhabitants 
thereby  enjoyed  the  same  rights  as  the  Romans. 

8.  The  slaves  were  an  unfortunate  class  of  persons,  who 
performed  all  domestic  services,  and  were  employed  also  in 
various  trades  and  manufactures.   They  were  considered  aa 
mere  property,  at  the  absolute  disposal  of  their  owners,  and 
were  publicly  sold  in  the   market  place.      Men  became 
slaves  by  being  taken  in  war,  or  by  being  born  in  a  state  of 
servitude ;  criminals  also  were  reduced  to  slavery  by  way 
of  punishment. 

9.  KINGS.    The  kings  of  Rome  were  not  absolute  or 
hereditary  but  limited  and  elective.     They  could  neither 


al  ITUT10NS. 


enact  Inws.  nor  make  war  or  peace  without  the  concurrence 
of  the  senate  and  people. 

10.  Sr  N  \TK.   The  senate  at  first  consisted  of  100  members 
'»ut  was  afterwards  increased  td200by  Tarquin  the  elder; 
and  towards  the  dissolution  of  the  republic,  it  comprised 
upwards  of  1000.     The  senators  were  at  first  nominated  by 
tlie  kings  ;  but  they  were  afterwards  chosen  by  the  consuls. 
arid  at  last  by  the  censors.     It  also  appears  that  the  number 
was  increased  from  time  to  time  by  the  addition  of  certain 
magistrates  who  were  annually  elected  by  the  people,  as 
consuls,  praetors,  censors,  and  curule  ediles.     The  senate 
usually  assembled  three  times  a  month,  but  was  frequently 
called  together  on  other  days  for  special  business.       A 
<iecree,  passed  by  a  majority  of  the  senate,  and  approved  by 
the  tribunes  of  the  people  was  termed  senntus  consultnm- 
The  senators  were  styled  patres  or  fathers,  on  account  of 
their  age,  gravity,  and  the  paternal  caro  they  had  of  the  state. 

11.  MAGISTRATES  IN  GENERAL.     Ti.e  magistrates  in  the 
Roman  republic  were  elective,  and  previous  to  their  elec- 
tion they  were  called  candidati,  or  candidates,  from  a  white 
robe  which  they  wore  while  soliciting  the  votes  of  the 
people. 

12.  The  Roman  magistrates  wore  divided  into  ordinary,  ex- 
traordinary, and  provincial.  The  ordinary  magistrates  were 
those  who  were  elected  at  stated  times,  and  were  constantly 
in  the  republic,  as  consuls,  censors,  tribunes,  &c.    The  ex- 
traordinary were  such  as  rose  out  of  some  public  disorder 
or  emergency;  these  were  the  -dictator  and  the  master  of 
the  horse,  who  commanded  the  cavalry;  the  decemvirs,  the 
military  tribunes,  and  the  inter-rex.  The  provincial  magis- 
trates were  those  who  wore  appointed  to  the  government 
of  the  provinces.     These  were  at  first  praetors,  afterwards 
pro-consuls,  and  pro-praetors,  to  whom  were  joined  quaes- 
tors, and  lieutenants. 

13.  CONSULS.     On  the  abolition  of  the  regal  authority 
(U.C.  244),  a  republican  government  was  established  and  two 
consuls  were  chosen  annually.     .Their  power  was   nearly 
the  same  a?  that  of  the  kings,  except  that  it  was  limited  to 
onft  year.     In  dangerous  conjuncture*,  they  were  clothed 
with  absolute  power,  by  a  solemn  decree,  "that  the  consul-; 
take  care  the  commonwealth  receive  no  harm."     In  order 
to  be  a  candidate  for  the  consulship,  it  was  requisite  to  bo 
forty-three  years  of  age.     At  first  the  consuls  were  chosen 
from  the  patrician  families,  but  afterwards  (U>C.  387)  the. 
plebeians  became  eligible  to  hold  the  dignity. 

14.  PRJETORS.    The  office  of  praetor  was  instituted,  U.  C. 
187.  when  the  plebeians  wern  a«im;*>«H  *«  *h« 


TO  SUMMARY  OF 

It  was  intended  that  the  praetor  should  always  be  a  patrt- 
cian,  but  in  U.  C.  417,  plebeians  \vere  admitted  to  the 
dignity.  The  praetor  was  next  in  authority  to  the  consuls, 
and  in  their  absence  supplied  their  place,  and  was  appointed 
to  administer  justice.  He  presided  in  the  assemblies  of  the 
people,  convened  the  senate  upon  any  emergency  and  ex- 
hibited certain  public  games.  There  was  at  first  but  one 
praetor,  then  two,  (U.  C.  515,)  afterwards  more,  U.  C-  52G. 

15.  CENSORS.    The  office  of  censor  was  created  in  U.  C. 
310.    It  was  esteemed  more  honourable  than  that  of  consul, 
although  attended  with  less  power.    There  were  two  cen- 
sors, chosen  every  five  years,  and  their  most  important 
duty  was  performed  every  fifth  year,  in  taking  the  census  of 
the  people ;  after  which  they  made  a  solemn  lustration  or 
expiatory  sacrifice,  in  the  Campus  Martina  in  the  name  of 
the  people.   The  sacrifice  consisted  of  a  sow,  a  sheep,  and  a 
bull. 

16.  TRIBUNES.  The  office  of  tribune  was  instituted  (U.C. 
260),  merely  to  protect  the  plebeians  against  the  patricians; 
but  they  gradually  acquired  very  great   power,  by  being 
permitted  to  exercise  a  veto  upon  every  measure  which  they 
judged  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  people.     They 
were  elected  annually;  their  number  at  first  was  five,  but 
afterwards  increased  to  ten.      By  them  the  power  of  the 
aristocracy  was  restrained  and  the  fury  of  the  people  was 
regulated. 

17.  EDILES.    The  ediles  were  of  two  kinds,  plebeian  and 
patrician.    The  first  were. appointed  (U.  C.  260),  to  assist 
the  tribunes,  and  were  so  named  from  their  office,  which  was 
the  care  of  the  public  edifices,  baths,  aqueducts,  roads* 
markets,  &c ;  the  other  the  curule  ediles,  were  appointed 
fU.  C.  390),  to  superintend  the    public   games,  temples, 
theatres,  tribunals  of  justice,  &c. 

18.  QILESTORS.  The  quaestors  were  elected  by  the  people 
to  take  care  of  the  public  revenue.     At  first  there  were 
only  two,  but  sevei-al  more  were  afterwards  added,     The 
military  quaestors  accompanied  the  army  and  took  care  of  the 
payment  of  the  soldiers.  *The  provincial  qutestort  attended 
the  consuls  or  praetors  into  their  provinces,  and  received  the 
taxes  and  tribute. 

19.  DICTATOR.    The  dictator  was  the  first  extraordinary 
magistrate  that  was  created,  (U.  C.  255).   He  was  appointed 
only  in  cases  of  public  danger,  when  quick  and  decisive 
measures  were  necessary,  and  for  that  purpose  was  invested 
with  absolute  power.    He  had  authority  to  make  peace  and 
war,  to  levy  taxes,  to  appoint  to  all  public  offices,  and  to 
dispense  with  the  laws,  without  consulting-  the  senate  or 


ROMAN  INSTITl/l'IONS.  xvii 

people.  He  was,  however,  required  to  lay  down  his  office 
BO  soon  as  the  danger  was  removed,  and  never  to  hold  it  for 
a  period  exceeding  six  months. 

20.  DBCEMVIRI.    These  were  extraordinary  magistrate* 
created  U.  C.  302,  for  the  particular  purpose  of  collecting 
the  laws  of  the  twelve  tables  which  they  gathered  out  of 
the  writings  of  Solon.    They  were  invested  with  absolute 
power,  and  during  the  time  they  were  appointed  all  other 
magistrates  were  suspended. 

21.  MILITARY  TRIBUNES.      These  extraordinary  magis- 
trates were  created  U.  C.  309,  to  allay  the  popular  discon- 
tent which  had  long  existed  on  account  of  the   senators 
refusing  to  admit  plebeians  to  the  office  of  consul.     It  was 
therefore  agreed  by  both  sides  that  instead  of  consuls,  six 
military  tribunes  with  the  power  of  consuls,  should  bechoieiit 
three  of  them  from  the  patricians,  and  three  from  the  ple- 
beians.   This  institution,  ho  \vever,  was  not  often  resorted 
to. 

22.  GENERAL  OF  THE  HORSE.    This  was  au  extraordinary 
officer  appointed  by  the  dictator  to  assist  him  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty,  and  was  next  in  dignity  to  himself. 
The  office  was  created  in  U.  C,  314. 

23.  INTERREX.    The  interreges  were  supreme  magistrates 
who  were  first  appointed  on  the  death  of  Romulus  to  carry 
on  the  government  until  the  election  of  a  new  king.    An 
interrex  was  sometimes  appointed  during  the    consular 
government,  but  on  this  occasion  their  duty  was  to  hold 
assemblies  in  the  absence  of  the  .magistrates,  or  when  tho 
election  of  any  of  the  acting  officers  was  disputed. 

24.  ASSEMBLIES  OF  THE  PEOPLE.      An  assembly  of  the 
whole  Roman  people,  to  give  their  vote  on  any  subject  was 
called  comitia.  There  were  three  kinds  of  comitia;  the  curt- 
a£a,the  centuriata,  and  the  tributa.  The  comitia  were  sum- 
moned by  some  magistrates  to  pass  laws,  to  elect  magistrates, 
to  decide  concerning  peace  and  war,  and  to  try  persons  guilty 
of  great  crimes. 

25.  The  comitia  curiatat  consisted  of  an  assembly  of  the 
resident  citizens  who  were  divided  into  thirty  curue.    They 
voted  by  curiae,  and  a  majority  of  these  determined  all 
matters  of  importance.    2d.  The  comitia  curiata  were  the 
principal  assemblies  of  the  people  in  which  they  gave  therr 
votes,  divided  into  the  centuries  of  their  classes,  according  to 
the  census.   At  these  comitia,  the  consuls,  praetors,  and  cen- 
sors were  elected,  the  most  important  laws  enacted,  cases 
of  high  treason  tried,  and  war  declared.    They  met  in  the 
Campus  Martiits  and  every  Roman  citizen  had  a  right  to  be 
present  and  to  vote  in  their  respective  centuries.    3J.  Tlw 


xviii  SUMMARY  OF 

comitia  tributa  were  an  assembly  in  which  the  people  voted 
divided  into  tribes,  according  to  their  wards.  They  were 
held  to  elect  inferior  magistrates,  to  elect  certain  priests,  to 
make  laws  and  hold  trials. 

2').  The  comitia  continued  to  be  assembled  for  upwards 
of  70f)  years,  when  that  liberty  was  abridged  by  Julius  Caesar, 
and  after  him  by  Augustus,  each  of  whom  shared  the  rig-lit 
of  creating-  magistrates  with  the  people.  Tiberius  deprive- 1 
the  people  altogether  of  the  right  of  election. 

•27.  PRIESTS.  The  ministers  of  religion  did  not'  form  a 
distinct  order  from  the  Roman  citizens,  but  were  chosen 
from  the  most  honourable  men  in  the  state.  Some  of  the 
priests  were  common  to  all  the  gods;  others  were  appro- 
priated to  a  particular  deity :  of  the  former  kind,  the  most 
important  were  the  pontifices,  the  augures,  the  huruspices,  the 
quindecemviri,  and  the  septemuiri;  who  were  all  subject  to 
the  pontifex  maximus,  or  high  priest,  chosen  by  the  people. 
Thepontifexmaximus  held  his  office  for  life,  and  was  aper=o;i 
«»f  great  dignity  and  authority. 

28.  The  augures  or  augurs,  were  fifteen  in  number,  and 
were  of  great  authority.   It  was  their  office  to  foretell  future 
events,  to  interpret  dreams,  oracles,  prodigies,  &c.     The 
(mruspices  were  priests  whose  office  it  was  to  look  upon  the 
beasts  offered  in  sacrifice,  to  examine  their  entrails,  &c.  ani 
to  deduce  from  these  the  success  of  any  enterprise. 

29.  The  quindecemviri  were  fifteen  priests  who  had  the 
charge  of  the  Sibylline  books,  which  were  three  prophetic 
volumes,  which  were  supposed  to  contain  the  fate  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  which  were  deposited  in  a  stone  chest 
under  the  Capitol. 

33.  The  sfi.ptemoiri  were  seven  priests  who  prepared  the 
s-icred  feasts  at  the  games,  processions,  and  other  solemn 
<>«-vasions ;  and  they  were  also  assistants  to  the  pontifiees. 

31.  The  priests  of  particular  deities  were  called  Fiaminet; 
the  chief  of  them  were  the  Diales,  priests  of  Jupiter ;  the 
,W/7,  priests  of  Mars  ;  the  Luperci,  priests  of  Pan,;  the  Potitii^ 
priests  of  Hercules;  the  Galli,  priests  of  Cybele;  and  the 
Vestal  Virgins,  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  Vesta. 

32.  The  Romans  worshipped  their  gods  in  temples  con- 
secrated by  the  augurs ;  also  in  groves.    Their  worship  con- 
sisted chiefly  in  prayer,  vows,  and  sacrifice. 

33.  FESTIVALS.   The  Romans  celebrated  feasts  in  January 
ia  honour  of  Janus  ;  in  February  were  the  Lupercalia,  or 
feasts  of  Pan,  and  the  Feralia,  in  honour  of  ghosts  and  spirits 
of  the  deceased  ;  in  March,  the  Matronalia,  a  feast  kept  by 
Uoman  matrons,  and  the  Quinquatria,'m  'honour  of  Minerva, 


ROMAN   INSTITUTIONS. 


XIX 


the  Saturnalia,  or  the  feasts  of  Saturn,  the  most  famous  of  all 
the  festivals.     There  were  besides  many  other  festivals. 

34.  GAMES.     The  shows  exhibited  in  the  circus  maximut 
were  chariot  an  i   horse  races;   contests  of  strength  an«i 
Rgility;  mock  fights  on  horse-back  ;  combats  of  wild  beasts* 
representations  of  horse  and  foot  battles ;  and  naumachice,  or 
mock  naval  battle;. 

35.  GLADIATOKS.  The  gladiators  were  persons  who  fought 
with  weapons  in  a  public  circus  or  amphitheatre,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  people.     These  combats  were  introduced 
about  U.  C.  400,  and  became  a  favourite   entertainment. 
The  combatants  were,  at  first,  composed  of  captives,  slaves, 
and  condemned  malefactors,  who  were  regularly  trained 
for  the  combat;  but  in  the  more  degenerate  period  of  the 
empire,  free-born  citizens  and  even  senators  engaged  in  this 
disgraceful  and  dangerous  amusement. 

33.  TRIUMPH.  A  triumph  was  the  highest  honour  which 
could  be  obtained  in  the  Roman  state.  It  was  decried  by 
the  senate  to  a  victorious  general,  for  having  conquered  a 
province  or  gained  some  signal  victory.  The  victorious 
general  and  his  army  advanced  in  procession  from  the 
Campus  Martins,  and  passed  through  the  most  public  streets 
of  the  city  to  the  Capitol;  the  streets  being  strewed  with 
flowers,  and  the  altars  smoking  with  incense.  It  was  com  - 
posed  of  musicians,  oxen  for  sacrifice,  carriages  carrying  the 
spoils  taken  from  the  enemy,  the  captive  kings  or  leaders 
and  their  attendants,  and  after  all  the  triumphant  general, 
dressed  in  purple,  embroidered  with  gold,  with  a  crown  of 
laurel  upon  his  head,  and  other  decorations. 

37.  DRESS.  The  most  distinguishing  parts  of  the  Roman 
dress  were  the  toga  and  the  tunica  The  toga,  or  gown,  was 
worn  by  Kom.in  citizens  only,  was  loose  and  flowing,  and 
covered  the  whole  body ;  it  had  no  sleeves,  and  was  disposed 
in  graceful  folds,  to  give  the  wearer  a  majestic  appearance. 
The  toga  virilis  or  manly  gown,  was  assumed  by  young 
men  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years.  The  tunica  or  tunic, 
xvas  a  white  woollen  vest,  which  came  down  a  little  below 
the  knees  before,  and  to  the  middle  of  the  leg  behind,  and 
was  fastened  tight  about  the  waist  by  a  girdle. 

33.  MEALS.  The  principal  meal  of  the  Romans  was  called 
ceena  or  supper,  which  took  place  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  from  the  most  simple  became  the  most  ex- 
travagant. Their  ordinary  drink  at  feasts  was  wine,  which 
they  mixed  with  water  and  sometimes  with  spices. 

39.  FOHCJM.  The  forum  was  the  principal  public  place  in 
the  city.  It  was  a  large,  oblong,  open  space,  entirely  sur- 
rounded with  arched  porticos,  within  which  \vere  ipaeiotu 


XX  SUMMARY  OF,  &c. 

halls,  called  basilica,  where  courts  of  justice  might  sit  for  the 
dispatch  of  business,  and  in  the  open  space  the  assemblies  of 
the  people  were  held. 

4o.  CAMPUS  MARTIUS.  The  Campus  Martius,  or  field  of 
Mara,  was  a  large  plain,  without  the  city,  along  the  Tiber 
where  the  Roman  youth  practised  all  kinds  of  athletic 
exercises  and  sports,  and  learned  the  use  of  arms.  It  was 
adorned  with  the  statues  of  famous  men,  and  with  triumphal 
vches,  columns,  porticos,  and  other  magnificent  •trootarei* 


TUB 

HISTORY 

OF  THE 

PROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 

OF  TUB 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK    I. 
CHAP.  I. 

The  subject—  Supposed  Origin  of  the  Roman  State— Its  Government-' 
The  King — Senate  —  People— Curia — Centuries— Tribes— Religion— 
The  Triumph—  Censut—  Progrea  of  the  State  under  it*  Kings— Chang* 
to  a  Republic. 

THE  Roman  State  was  originally  a  small  principality,  and 
one  of  the  many  little  cantons,  which,  under  the  denomina- 
tion of  Latins,  occupied  the  left  of  the  Tiber,  from  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Anio  to  the  sea,  and  from  Ostia  to  Circeii 
on  the  coast.  Within  this  narrow  tract,  reaching  in 
breadth  inland  no  more  than  sixteen  miles,  and  extending 
on  the  coast  about  fifty  miles,  the  Latins  are  said  to  have 
formed  no  less  than  forty-seven  independent  states ;  each 
of  whom  had  a  separate  capital  or  stronghold,  to  which 
they  occasionally  retired  for  safety,  with  their  cattle  and 
other  effects,  and  from  which  they  made  frequent  wars  on 
each  other.  The  country,  divided  into  so  many  separate 
territories,  we  may  consider  as  resembling  some  of  the 
lately  discovered  islands  in  tho  Southern  or  Pacific  Ocean, 
where  every  height  is  represented  as  a  fortress,  and  every 
little  township,  that  can  maintain  its  possessions,  as  a 
separate  state.  Among  settlements  of  this  description, 
the  Romans,  though  they  were  originally  no  way  distin- 
guished in  point  of  possessions  or  numbers,  yet,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  superiority  of  institution  or  character,  came 
to  fcave  a  decided  ascendant. 

Beyond  the  Tiber  c  a  the  one  hand,  and  the  Liria  on  UM 


2  HISTORY  OF  THIS  [b.  I. 

other,  the  contiguous  parts  of  Italy  were  possessed,  in  th* 
same  manner  with  Latiura,  by  different  races  of  men,  who. 
tinder  various  denominations  of  Etrurians,  Samnites,  Cam- 
panians,  and  others,  formed  a  multiplicity  of  little  nations, 
united  by  leagues  for  common  safety,  and  ranged  under 
opposite  interests,  with  a  view  to  some  balance  of  power 
which  they  endeavoured  to  maintain.  The  peninsula  to- 
wards one  extremity,  was  from  time  immemorial  peopled 
•.vith  Grecian  colonies.  Towards  the  other,  it  was,  in  the 
first  ages  of  the  Roman  state,  overrun  by  nations  of  Gaulish 
extraction. 

The  land  throughout,  in  respect  to  situation,  climate,  and 
soil,  was  highly  favoured,  diversified  with  mountain  and 
plain,  well  wooded  and  watered,  replenished  with  useful 
materials,  fit  to  yield  pas|jire  for  numerous  herds,  and  to 
produce  abundance  of  corn,  wine,  and  oil.  And,  what  is 
still  of  more  importance,  was  already  become  the  flourishing 
nursery  of  ingenious  men,  ardent  and  vigorous  in  their 
pursuits,  though,  in  respect  to  many  arts  and  inventions, 
yet  in  a  state  of  great  simplicity  or  ignorance. 

The  Romans,  who  made  their  first  step  to  dominion  by 
becoming  heads  of  the  Latin  confederacy,  continued  their 
progress  to  the  sovereignty  of  Italy ;  or,  after  many  strug- 
gles with  nations  possessed  of  resources  similar  to  their 
own,  united  the  forces  of  that  country  under  their  own 
direction,  became  the  conquerors  of  many  kingdoms  in  Asia 
and  Africa,  as  well  as  in  Europe ;  and  formed  an  empire, 
if  not  the  most  extensive,  at  least  the  most  splendid  of  any 
that  is  known  in  the  history  of  mankind.  In  possession  of 
this  seeming  advantage,  however,  they  were  unable  to 
preserve  their  own  institutions;  they  became,  together 
with  the  conquests  they  had  made,  a  prey  to  military 
government,  and  a  signal  example  of  the  vicissitudes  to 
which  prosperous  nations  are  exposed. 

This  mighty  state,  remarkable  for  the  small  ness  of  its 
origin,  as  well  as  for  the  greatness  to  which  it  attained,  has, 
by  the  splendour  of  its  national  exertions,  by  the  extent  of 
its  dominion,  by  the  wisdom  of  its  councils,  or  by  its  internal 
revolutions  and  reverses  of  fortune,  ever  been  a  principal 
object  of  history  to  all  the  more  enlightened  nations  of  the 
western  world.  To  know  it  well,  is  to  know  mankind; 
and  to  have  seen  out  spocho  tinier  the  fairest  aspect  of 
great  ability,  integrity,  and  courage.  There  is  a  merit  in 
attempting  to  promote  the  study  of  this  subject,  even  if  the 
effect  should  not  correspond  with  the  design. 

Under  this  impression  the  following  narrative  was  und^r- 
taken,  and  chiefly  with  a  view  to  the  great  revolution,  by 


CH.  I.J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  3 

which  the  republican  form  of  government  was  exchanged 
for  despotism ;  and  by  which  the  Roman  people,  from  being 
joint  sovereigns  of  a  great  empire,  became,  together  with 
their  own  prm  hires,  tlio  subjects,  and  often  the  prey,  of  a 
tyranny  wliich  was  equally  cruel  to  both. 

The  event  which  makes  the  principal  object  of  this  his- 
tory, has  been  sometimes  considered  as  a  point  of  separa- 
tion between  two  periods,  which  have  been  accordingly 
treated  apart— the  period  of  the  republic,  and  that  of  the 
monarchy.  During  a  considerable  part  of  the  first  period, 
the  Romans  Avere  highly  distinguished  by  their  genius, 
magnanimity,  and  national  spirit,  and  made  suitable  attain- 
ments in  what  are  the  ordinary  objects  of  pursuit — wealth 
and  dominion.  In  the  second  period  they  continued  for 
some  time  to  profit  by  the  attainments  which  were  made  iu 
the  former,  and  while  they  walked  in  the  tract  of  the  com- 
monwealth, or  practised  the  arts  and  retained  the  lessons 
which  former  ages  had  taught,  still  kept  their  possessions. 
But  after  the  springs  of  political  life,  which  were  woundup 
in  the  republic,  had  some  time  ceased  to  act ;  when  the  stat* 
was  become  the  concern  of  a  single  person,  and  the  vestiga 
of  former  movements  were  effaced,  the  national  character 
declined,  and  the  power  of  a  great  empire  became  unable  to 
preserve  what  a  small  republic  had  acquired.  The  exam- 
ple, whether  to  be  shunned  or  imitated,  is  certainly  instruc- 
tive in  either  period ;  but  most  so  in  the  transition  that  wai 
made  from  one  to  the  other ;  and  in  the  forfeiture  of  those 
public  advantages,  of  which  the  Roman  people,  in  some  part 
of  their  course,  availed  themselves  with  so  much  distinction, 
and  which,  in  the  sequel,  they  abused  with  so  much  disorder 
at  home,  and  oppression  of  their  subjects  abroad. 

For  this  purpose4,  indeed,  a  general  description  of  the  state 
and  its  territory,  such  as  they  were  in  the  beginning  of  this 
transaction,  might  have  been  sufficient;  but  as  it  is  difficult 
to  fix  the  precise  point  at  which  causes  begin  to  operate,  or 
at  which  effects  are  complete,  I  have  indulged  myself  in 
looking  back  to  the  origin  of  this  famous  republic,  whether 
real  or  fabulous,  and  shall  leave  the  reader  to  determine,  at 
what  time  he  will  suppose  the  period  of  authentic  history  to 
begin,  or  at  what  time  he  will  suppose  the  causes  of  this 
revolution  to  operate,  and  to  produce  their  effects. 

The  Romans  are  said  to  have  made  their  settlement  in  the 
end  of  the  sixth,  or  beginning  of  the  seventh  Olympiad, 
about  two  hundred  years  before  the  accession  of  Cyrus  to 
tne  tlirone  of  Persia,  seven  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  long  before  the  date  of  any  authentic  profane 
tuctorv  whatever. 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE 

That  the  Roman  state  was  originally  a  small  one,  and 
came  by  degrees  to  its  greatness,  cannot  be  doubted.  S>< 
much  we  may  safely  admit  on  the  faith  of  tradition,  or  in 
this  instance  infer,  from  the  continuation  and  recent  marks 
of  a  progress  which  the  people  were  still  making,  after  they 
became  an  object  of  observation  to  other  nations,  and  after 
they  began  to  keep  records  of  their  own :  that  they  had 
been  an  assemblage  of  herdsmen  and  warriors,  ignorant  o* 
letters,  of  money,  and  of  commercial  arts,  inured  to  depre- 
dation and  violence,  and  subsisting-  chiefly  by  the  produce  of 
their  herds,  and  the  spoils  of  their  enemies,  may  be  safely 
admitted ;  because  we  find  them,  in  the  most  authentic  parts 
of  their  liistory,  supplying-  these  defects,  and  coming  for- 
ward in  the  same  direction,  and  consequently  proceeding 
irom  the  same  origin,  with  other  rude  nations;  being  in 
reality,  a  horde  of  ignorant  barbarians,  though  likely  to 
become  an  accomplished  nation. 

In  the  first  accounts  of  their  settlement,  it  is  said  that  they 
mustered  three  thousand  men  on  foot  and  three  hundred 
on  horseback.  Their  establishment  being  effected  by  sur- 
prise or  by  force,  and  their  people  consisting  of  armed  men 
who  had  every  acquisition  to  make  at  the  expense  of  their 
neighbours,  they  were  naturally  in  a  state  of  war  with  the 
country  around  them.  They  took  post  on  the  Palatium,  a 
small  height  on  the  Tiber,  which,  according  to  former  tra  • 
ditions,  had  been  previously  occupied  by  five  different  races 
of  men,  who,  in  a  country  so  precariously  ssttled,  were  fre- 
quently changing  their  places.  Their  city  was  the  first 
model  of  a  Roman  camp,  fortified  with  a  square  breast- 
work and  ditch,  to  serve  as  an  occasional  retreat  to  them- 
selves and  their  cattle.  Their  leader,  or  chief,  was  the  sole 
magistrate  or  officer,  either  civil  or  military.  The  members 
of  the  commonwealth  were  distinguished  into  different 
classes  or  ranks,  under  the  names  of  patrician  and  plebeian, 
patron  and  client.  "  The  patron,"  says  Dionysius,  "was  to 
protect,  to  give  counsel ;  and,  whether  present  or  absent, 
was  to  his  clients  what  the  father  is  to  his  family.  The 
clients,  in  return,  were  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  their 
patron,  to  aid  him  in  placing  his  children  in  marriage ;  and, 
in  the  case  of  his  being  taken  by  an  enemy,  were  to  pay  his 
ransom;  or  of  his  being  condemned  in  a  fine,  were  to  dis- 
charge it  for  him." 

The  limits  of  prerogative  and  privilege,  as  in  other  rude 
societies,  were  yet  imperfectly  marked.  It  was  the  prero- 
gative of  the  king  to  lead  in  war,  and  to  rule  in  peace. 
The  people  acknowledged  him  as  their  leader,  or  prince ; 
but  thev  themselves,  as  in  other  instances  of  the  same  kind. 


On.  I.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  6 

were  accustomed,  on  remarkable  occasions,  to  assemble; 
and,  without  any  concerted  form  of  democracy,  became  the 
sovereign  power,  as  often  as  their  passions  engaged  them  to 
act  in  a  body.  The  superior  class  of  the  people  as  naturally 
came  to  have  their  meetings  apart,  and  may  have  assembled 
%'equently,  when  the  occasion  was  not  sufficient  to  require 
the  attention  of  the  whole.  Hence  probably  the  establish- 
ments of  the  senate  and  of  the  popular  assemblies,  which 
were  called  the  comitiit,  and  were  both  of  so  early  a  date  as 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  first  of  their  kings. 

Even  this  founder  of  the  state,  we  are  told,  was  distin- 
guished by  his  ushers  or  lictors  carrying  before  him  the  axe 
and  the  rods,  as  the  emblems  of  his  power,  and  the  instru- 
ments of  his  justice.  The  names  of  the  senators  were 
entered  in  a  list,  and  they  were  separately  called  to  their 
meetings.  Assemblies  of  the  people  were  intimated  by  the 
sound  of  a  horn.  The  citizens  were  distinguished  into 
curiae,  centuries,  and  tribes— divisions  under  which  they 
formed  their  several  compartments,  for  military  array,  reli- 
gious ceremonies,  or  political  deliberations.  When  met  to 
decide  on  any  public  question,  each  division  apart  collected 
the  votes  of  its  members,  from  thence  formed  a  vote  for  the 
curia  or  century;  and,  by  the  majority  of  these,  determined 
the  whole.  The  curiae  were  fraternities,  or  divisions  of  the 
people,  which  met  for  the  performance  of  religious  rites: 
each  had  its  separate  priest,  and  place  of  assembly.  When 
the  cdriae  were  called  on  matters  of  state,  they  retained 
part  of  their  religious  forms;  opened  their  meeting  with 
observing  the  auspices,  or  signs  of  futurity ;  and  if  these 
were  unfavourable,  could  not  proceed  on  business.  The 
augurs,  therefore,  in  this  mode  of  assembly,  had  a  negative 
on  the  proceedings  of  the  people. 

The  centuries  were  formed  on  a  more  artful  idea,  to  make 
power  accompany  wealth.  The  people  were  divided  into 
classes,  according  to  the  rate  of  their  fortunes :  each  class 
was  divided  into  centuries ;  but  the  number  of  centuries  in 
the  different  classes  was  so  unequal,  that  those  of  the  firrt 
or  richest  class  made  a  majority  of  the  whole ;  and  when 
the  centuries  of  this  class  were  unanimous,  they  decided 
the  question.  By  this  institution,  the  rich  were  masters  oi 
the  legislature,  though  not  without  some  compensation  to 
the  poor,  as  the  several  classes  were  charged  with  taxes 
and  public  services,  in  the  same  proportion  in  winch  they 
were  vested  with  po\vcr. 

The  people,  when  thus  assembled,  were  distinguished  in 
their  classes  by  their  ensigns  and  arms,  and,  though  called 
together  on  political  atlii-rs,  were  termed  the  army. 
C 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  L 

In  the  first  ages  9f  this  principality  or  commonwealth,  the 
meetings  of  the  people  were  held  first  by  curiae,  and  after- 
wards by  centuries.  The  practice  of  voting  by  tribes  was  of 
a  later  date  than  either,  and  was  the  device  of  a  popular  party 
to  exclude  the  auspices,  to  level  the  condition  of  ranks, 
and  by  these  means  to  turn  the  channels  of  power  in  their 
own  favour.  The  people  were  formed  into  their  classes  and 
centuries,  to  elect  their  officers,  to  enact  laws,  or  to  deliber- 
ate on  other  affairs  of  state;  but  they  did  not  without 
•truggle  or  contest  always  acquiesce  in  this  mode  of  assem. 
bly.  The  poorer  citizens  often  insisted  to  be  called  in  the 
curiae,  and  afterwards  in  the  tribes,  to  decide  on  affairs 
which  the  rich  would  have  referred  to  the  centuries  alone. 
The  question  on  these  occasions  went  to  the  foundation  of 
the  constitution,  and  implied  a  doubt  whether  the  state 
was  to  be  governed  by  the  balance  of  numbers,  or  the 
balance  of  property. 

To  these  original  springs  of  the  political  frame  may  be 
joined  those  of  religion,  which  in  al]  governments  must  have 
a  considerable  force ;  and  in  this  ha\  e  always  been  supposed 
a  principal  power  to  regulate  its  movements.  Here  indeed, 
there  being  no  distinction  of  clergy  and  laity,  the  authority 
of  the  statesman,  augur,  and  priest,  was  united  in  the  same 
persons,  or  in  the  same  orders  of  men :  and  as,  in  the  mind 
of  every  citizen,  notwithstanding  the  high  measure  of  his 
superstition,  the  sword  of  state  \vas  preferred  to  the  altar, 
ihe  politician  and  warrior  availed  himself  of  the  respect 
which  was  paid  to  the  priest,  and  made  superstition  itself 
subservient  to  the  purposes  of  state. 

The  wants  by  which  the  Romans  were  impelled  in  the 
first  state  of  their  settlement,  made  it  necessary  for  them  to 
vanquish  some  of  their  neighbours,  or  to  perish  in  the 
attempt.  Valour,  accordingly,  in  their  estimation,  was  the 
principal  quality  of  human  nature,  and  the  defeat  of  an 
enemy  the  chief  of  its  fruits.  Every  leader  who  obtained  a 
victory  made  his  entry  at  Rome  in  procession ;  and  this  gave 
rise  to  the  triumph,  winch  continued,  from  the  first  to  the 
last  age  of  the  commonwealth,  to  be  the  highest  object  of 
ambition. 

To  the  other  fortunate  customs  which  may  be  traced  up 
to  those  early  times  of  the  state,  we  may  join  that  of  the 
census,  by  which  the  people,  at  every  period  of  five  years, 
took  a  regular  account  of  the  numbers  and  estates  of  their 
citizens,  as  the  best  measure  they  could  have  of  their  own 
progress  or  decline,  and  the  surest  test  of  their  policy  and 
conduct  as  a  nation. 

The  Romans  reckoned  in  the  first  period  of  their  history 


CH.  LJ  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  7 

a  succession  of  seven  kings,  to  each  of  whom  they  eerribed 
the  invention  of  their  several  institutions.  To  Romulus, 
the  mixed  form  of  their  government,  the  establishment  of 
the  senate  and  assemblies  of  the  people,  the  ranks  of  patri- 
cian and  plebeian,  the  relations  of  patron  and  client.  To 
Numa,  the  religion  of  the  people,  and  their  regard  to  oaths. 
To  Servius  Tullius,  the  census,  or  periodical  muster ;  and 
so  on.— But  whether  we  suppose  these  institutions  to  have 
been  the  suggestion  of  particular  occasions,  or  the  invention 
of  ingenious  men,  directed  by  a  deep  premeditation  of  all 
their  effects,  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  institutions  existed 
hi  very  early  times,  and  served  as  the  foundation  of  that 
policy  wliich  distinguished  the  Roman  state. 

The  monarchy  of  Rome  is  said  to  have  lasted  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  years,  a  period  in  which  the  numbers  of 
the  people,  and  the  extent  of  their  settlement,  had  greatly 
increased.  During  this  period,  they  had  drawn  many  of 
their  neighbours  to  Rome,  and  sent  many  of  their  own  peo- 
ple to  occupy  settlements  abroad.  By  the  enrolment  of 
aliens,  they  procured  a  certain  increase  of  people;  and  by 
spreading  their  colonies  around,  they  made  acquisitions  of 
territory,  and  extended  the  nursery  of  Roman  citizens. 
We  find,  nevertheless,  that,  by  the  last  part  of  this  policy, 
they  incurred  a  danger  of  losing  the  people  whom  they  thus 
established  or  bred  up  in  new  settlements,  however  little 
removed  from  the  metropolis.  In  departing  from  Rome, 
the  colonists  ceased  to  be  enrolled  in  any  tribe  or  ward  of 
that  city,  or  of  its  districts  ;  or  to  be  ranked  in  any  class  of 
the  people.  They  ceased,  of  course,  to  be  called  upon  to 
vote  in  any  of  the  assemblies,  which  they  no  longer  attended. 
The  colony  itself  took  a  part  in  the  discontents  of  the  peo- 
ple they  were  sent  to  restrain,  and  became  parties  with  the 
vanquished  in  their  quarrel  with  the  victors.  But,  notwith- 
standing frequent  instances  of  this  sort  among  the  Roman 
colonies,  the  memory  of  their  descent  and  the  ties  of  con- 
sanguinity, the  pride  of  their  distinction  as  Romans,  the 
capacity  which  every  colonist  retained  of  returning  to 
Rome,  and  of  being  reinstated  in  the  rolls  of  the  people,  for 
the  most  part  preserved  their  attachment  to  Rome,  and 
made  them  still  a  part  of  her  strength,  and  a  principal  source 
of  her  greatness. 

During  this  period  of  the  kingly  government,  the  num- 
bers that  were  enrolled  in  the  city  and  its  territory  in- 
creased from  three  thousand  and  two  hundred  to  eighty 
thousand  men  of  an  age  fit  to  carry  arms.  The  number  of 
Roman  tribes  or  wards  of  the  city  was  augmented  from 
*hree  to  twentv-one.  The  kingdom  itself  extended  over 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

the  greater  part  of  Latiuni,  and  had  an  intimate  alliance 
with  the  whole  of  it.  The  city  of  Rome  was  become  the 
principal  resort  of  all  the  Latin  confederates,  the  place  of 
their  meetings  for  devotion  or  pleasure,  and  the  seat  ot 
their  political  consultations. 

To  accommodate  and  secure  this  populous  and  growing 
community,  several  of  the  heights  contiguous  to  their  ori- 
ginal settlement  were,  during  the  same  period,  successively 
occupied,  the  marshes  between  them  were  drained  by  exca- 
vations and  works  of  great  magnificence,  of  which  a  con- 
siderable part  is  still  entire.  The  city  itself,  instead  of  an 
earthen  rampart,  was  surrounded  with  towers  and  battle- 
ments of  hewn  stone. 

So  far  it  appears,  that  while  every  successive  prince  gra- 
tified his  own  ambition  by  subduing  some  neighbouring 
district  or  village,  and  brought  an  accession  of  riches  or 
territory  to  Ids  country,  the  genius  of  monarchy  was  fav- 
ourable to  tbe  growth  of  this  rising  empire.  But  when 
princes  became  satiated  with  conquests  abroad,  their  ambi- 
tion took  a  different  direction,  and  led  them  to  ami  at  mak- 
.  ing  the  kingdom  hereditary,  and  the  people  more  subservi- 
ent to  their  pleasure.  Under  this  direction  of  the  monarch's 
ambition,  a  revolution  became  necessary,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  state  in  its  former  progressive  course. 

Such  a  revolution,  we  are  told,  took  its  rise  from  the 
resentments  of  the  people,  excited  by  abuses  of  power,  and 
was  hastened  by  a  momentary  indignation,  roused  by  an 
insult  offered  by  a  son  of  the  king  to  a  Roman  matron.* 

The  principal  part  of  the  revolution  consisted  in  substi- 
tuting the  consuls,  two  annual  magistrates,  in  place  of  the 
king.  These  officers  were  chosen  in  the  assembly  of  the 
centuries.  The  officer  who  was  to  preside  at  the  election 
erected  his  standard,  and  pitched  his  tent  in  the  field  of 
Mars,  a  meadow  which  lay  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  above 
the  city.  The  people  repaired  to  him  in  arms,  and  distin- 
guished by  the  ensigns  and  armour  of  their  different  classes, 
proceeded  to  make  their  election. 

It  was  meant  that  the  consuls  should  succeed  to  all  the 
powers  of  the  king ;  and  in  order  to  enforce  their  authority, 
a  penalty  of  five  oxen  and  two  sheep  was  denounced  against 
every  person  who  refused  to  obey  them.  Their  joint  and 
divided  command,  with  the  limited  term  of  one  year,  which 
was  to  be  the  duration  of  their  power,  were  thought  suffi- 
cient securities  against  the  abuse  of  it. 

The  government,  by  this  revolution,  devolved  on  the 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUL1C.  9 

senate  and  nobles.  The  plebeians,  in  the  first  formation  of 
it,  were  favoured  by  the  admission  of  a  certain  number  of 
their  order  to  fill  up  the  senate,  which  had  been  reduced  in 
its  numbers  by  the  tyranny  of  the  late  king;  and  they  were 
declared,  in  case  of  any  oppression,  to  have  a  right  of  aj>peaj 
from  any  sentence  or  command  of  the  magistrate  lo  an 
assembly  of  the  people  at  large.  This  was  understood  to  be 
the  great  charter  of  every  citizen.  But  the  patricians  alone 
could  be  chosen  into  the  newly  established  offices  of  state. 
They  alone  were  to  furnish  the  ordinary  succession  of  mem- 
bers to  the  senate,  and,  by  their  enrolment  in  the  first  and 
second  classes,  to  have  a  decided  majority  in  all  the  meetings 
or  comitia  of  the  centuries. 


CHAP.  II. 

Form  of  the  Republic— Dissension  of  Parties— First  Dictator— Secession 
of  Plebeians— Tribunes  of  the  People— Their  Objects— Distribution  of 
Corn — Division  of  Lands — Pretensions  of  the  Plebeians  —  Commission  tt 
compile  Laivt—Decemvirt  —Twelve  Tables— Intermarriages  of  Ranks — 
Claim  of  the  Plebeians  to  the  Consulate— Military  or  Consu'er  Tribunat 
— Censort—  Ediles  -Prcefectnt  Annontr— Fortune  of  the  Republic — 
Reduction  of  Veias— Destruction  of  Home  by  the  Gauls— Rebuilding  o/ 
the  City. 

THE  government  of  Rome,  as  it  is  represented  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  king,  was  become  entirely  aristocratical.* 
The  nobles  had  the  exclusive  possession  of  office,  without 
any  third  party  to  hold  the  balance  between  themselves  and 
the  people.  The  consuls  were  the  sole  executive  magis- 
trates, and  united  in  their  own  persons  all  the  dignities  of 
the  state,  those  of  judge,  magistrate,  and  military  leader. 

Such,  at  the  first  institution  of  the  commonwealth,  was, 
Loth  in  respect  of  government  and  manners,  the  simplicity 
or  rudeness  of  this  community.  The  people,  however,  in 
their  new  situation,  were  gradually  and  speedily  led,  by  the 
accumulation  of  their  affairs,  by  the  contests  of  their  parties, 
and  by  the  wants  of  the  public,  to  a  variety  of  establish- 
ments in  which  they  separated  the  departments  of  state, 
more  equally  distributed  its  powers,  filled  up  the  lists  of 
rlftce,  and  put  themselves  in  a  posture  to  wield  with  advan- 
tage their  strength  as  it  Increased,  and  to  avail  themselves 
of  every  rircumstauee  that  occurred  in  their  favour. 

WluLe  tlie  exiled  king  was  endeavouring,  by  continual 


1U  H1STOUY  OF  THE  [B.  J. 

invasions,  to  recover  his  power,  disputes  arose  between  the 
parties  who  had  joined  to  expel  1dm ;  creditors,  supported 
by  the  aristocracy,  of  which  the  nobles  were  now  in  full 
possession,  became  severe  in  the  exaction  of  debts,  or  the 
patrons  laid  claim  to  more  than  the  clients  were  willing  to 
pay.  The  state  was  distracted  at  once  by  its  enemies  from 
abroad,  and  by  the  dissension  of  partie3  at  home.  The 
authority  of  the  new  government  not  being  sufficient  to 
contend  with  these  difficulties,  the  senate  resolved  to  place 
themselves  and  the  commonwealth,  for  a  limited  time,  under 
the  power  of  a  single  person,  who,  with  the  title  of  Dicta- 
tor, or  Master  of  the  people,  should  at  his  pleasure  dispose 
of  the  state,  and  of  all  its  resources.* 

This  officer  was  invested  with  power  to  punish  the  dis- 
orderly without  trial  and  without  appeal ;  to  arm  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  employ  their  forces  on  any  service ;  to  name  his 
own  substitute,  or  second  in  command ;  and  to  act  without 
being,  even  at  the  expiration  of  his  office,  accountable 
either  to  the  senate  or  to  the  people.  The  circumstances 
that  were  probably  accidental  in  the  first  nomination  of  this 
extraordinary  officer,  were  afterwards  repeated  as  unalter- 
able forms  in  every  successive  appointment  of  the  same 
kind.  It  became  the  prerogative  of  the  senate  to  resolve 
that  a  dictator  should  be  named,  and  of  the  consul  to  name 
him.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  dead  of  night ; 
and  as  soon  as  the  nomination  was  known,  the  lictors,  or 
ministers  of  justice,  armed  with  their  axes  and  rods,  with- 
drew from  the  ordinary  magistrate,  to  attend  this  temporary 
lord  of  the  commonwealth. 

This  institution  was  devised  by  the  senate,  to  repress  the 
disorders  which  broke  out  among  the  people,  and  to  unite 
the  forces  of  the  commonwealth  against  its  enemies.  The 
next  was  of  a  different  nature,  and  was  meant  to  protect 
the  plebeians  against  the  oppression  of  their  lords. 

The  inferior  class  of  the  people,  almost  excluded  from 
any  share  in  the  new  government,  soon  found  that  under 
its  influence  they  had  more  oppression  to  fear  from  their 
patrons,  than  they  had  ever  experienced  from  the  prince 
they  had  banished.  For,  upon  the  death  of  the  king,  and 
the  security  which  the  new  government  derived  from  this 
event,  the  nobles  availed  themselves  of  their  power,  and 
enforced  their  claims  on  the  people  with  extreme  severity. 
In  the  capacity  of  creditors,  they  imprisoned,  whipped,  and 
enslaved  those  who  were  indebted  to  them,  and  held  the 

*  U.  C.  452  or  455— The  date  of  the  nomination  of  the  Brst  dietatot 
i»  uncerUin.  Liv.  lib.  ii.  Some  place  it  nice  years  after  the  ezptf. 
•ion  of  the  kings;  Dionys.  twelve  years. 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  H 

liberties  and  the  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens  at  their  raercv. 
The  whole  body  of  plebeians  was  aiarmed ;  and  many  who 
had  already  suffered  under  the  rod  of  their  creditors,  whoa 
called  upon  to  enlist,  showed  their  limbs  galled  with  fetters, 
or  torn  with  the  stripes  which  they  had  received  by  com- 
mand of  their  merciless  patrons. 

These  distractions,  joined  to  the  actual  presence  of  a 
foreign*  enemy,  obliged  the  senate  to  have  recourse  to  their 
former  expedient,  and  to  intrust  the  republic  again  in  the 
hands  of  a  dictator.  Having  succeeded  in  their  first  nomi- 
nation, and  having  driven  the  enemy  from  their  territories, 
they  recurred  to  the  same  expedient  again,  on  the  return 
of  a  like  occasion;  but,  in  order  to  mix  insinuation  with 
the  terrors  of  this  measure,  they  made  choice  of  Valerius,  a 
person  whose  name  was  already  known  to  the  sufferers  by 
some  popular  laws  which  they  owed  to  his  family.  This 
officer  had  credit  enough  with  the  people  to  prevail  on 
them  to  take  arms,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  repel  the 
enemy,  by  whom  the  state  was  invaded;  but,  upon  his 
return,  not  being  able  to  prevail  on  the  senate  to  fulfil  the 
hopes  which  he  had  given  to  the  people,  he  made  a  speech 
to  exculpate  himself,  and  laid  down  his  power.  The  citi- 
zens who  had  fought  under  his  banner,  being  still  in  the 
field,  and,  without  any  orders  to  disband,  suspecting  that 
the  senate,  under  pretence  of  some  war  on  the  frontier, 
meant  to  remove  them  from  the  city,  ran  to  their  arms, 
retired  beyond  the  Anio,  and  took  possession  of  a  height 
about  three  miles  from  Rome,  afterwards  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Sacred  Hill.  Their  officers  followed,  and  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  them  to  return  to  their  duty ;  but 
were  told,  that  no  duty  was  owing  to  a  government  which 
had  withdrawn  its  protection,  and  encouraged  oppression : 
that  free  citizens  own  no  country  in  which  they  are  not 
permitted  to  enjoy  their  freedom. 

This  secession  of  a  great  body  of  the  people  having  con- 
tinued for  several  months,  and  in  this  time  received  a  con- 
stant accession  of  numbers  from  the  city  and  from  the  con- 
tiguous fields,  threw  the  republic  into  the  greatest  disorder ; 
exposed  its  lands  to  be  neglected  or  pillaged  by  its  own 
inhabitants,  and  ravaged  by  numerous  enemies,  who  took 
this  opportunity  to  invade  it  without  opposition. 

The  patricians  had  sufficient  force  in  their  own  body,  and 
in  that  of  their  faithful  retainers,  to  guard  the  avenues  of 
the  city,  and  to  secure  it  from  surprise :  but  being  reduced 
to  great  difficulties  for  want  of  their  usual  supplies  of  pro- 
visions, and  apprehending  still  greater  from  the  interrup- 
tion of  labour  and  the  suspension  of  government,  Ui«y 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I 

eame  to  a  resolution  to  negotiate  with  the  leaders  of  the 
mutiny;  and  agreed  to  mitigate  the  severities  which  they 
had  hitherto  practised  against  insolvent  debtors,  and  to  re- 
lease such  of  them  as  were  actually  in  bonds,  or  had  been 
destined  to  slavery. 

With  these  concessions,  a  deputation  was  sent  to  the 
camp,  and  a  negotiation  was  opened,  in  winch  the  plebeians 
obtained,  not  only  a  full  acknowledgment  of  their  privi- 
leges, but,  what  was  of  more  consequence,  a  power  of 
forming  assemblies  apart  from  the  nobles,  and  of  electing 
annual  magistrates,  to  guard  and  watch  over  their  own 
separate  rights.  "Your  consuls,"  they  said,  "are  not  so 
much  the  officers  of  the  commonwealth  as  the  heads  of  a 
fiction;  and,  in  all  questions  that  relate  to  the  people,  are 
f.arties  rather  than  judges.  It  is  reasonable  that  we  too 
have  a  head  or  representation  in  the  commonwealth,  under 
which  we  may  act,  at  least,  in  our  own  defence." 

In  return  to  this  well-advised  and  specious  requisition, 
the  tribunitian  power  was  established,  and  with  it  the 
foundations  of  some  good,  and  of  much  harm  laid  in  the 
commonwealth.*  The  people  were  allowed  to  assemble ; 
and,  instead  of  a  representation  to  support  and  preserve 
their  rights  with  steadiness  and  with  moderation,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  elect  a  few  leaders,  Avho  from  thenceforward, 
were  to  head  every  popular  tumult,  and  to  raise  up  every 
wind  of  contention  into  a  storm. 

The  tribunes  were  authorized,  at  their  first  institution,  to 
forbid,  or  to  restrain,  any  measures  wliich  they  thought 
hazardous,  or  injurious  to  the  rights  of  their  constituents, 
but  not  to  propose  any  law,  nor  to  move  any  positive 
resolution.  They  were  not  entitled  to  exercise  their 
powers  beyond  the  walls  of  the  city,  or  to  absent  them- 
selves from  it  for  a  whole  day,  except  in  their  attendance 
on  the  festival  of  the  Latin  allies,  where  the  presence  of  all 
the  Roman  magistrates  was  required.  A  single  tribune 
might  stop  the  proceedings  of  his  own  body,  and  of  the 
people  themselves,  as  well  as  the  proceedings  of  the  senate 
and  patrician  magistrates.  In  the  exercise  of  this  last  part 
of  their  trust,  though  not  permitted  in  this  age  of  aristo- 
cracy to  mix  with  the  senators,  they  had  places  assigned 
them  at  the  doors  of  the  senate-house,  from  wliich,  as  from 
a  watch-tower,  they  were  to  observe,  and  on  occasion  to 
stop,  the  proceedings  of  the  lords. 

As  the  tribunes  were  destined  to  withstand  the  exertions 
of  power,  and  were  supposed,  on  the  most  dangerous  occ«- 

*  U  C.  260. 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  Ib 

sions,  to  expose  themselves  to  the  axe  and  the  sword  of 
their  adversaries,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  guard  th •Mi- 
persons  with  the  most  sacred  fences  of  religion  and  law. 
For  this  purpose  an  inviolable  rule  was  prescribed  in  the 
following  terms:  "Let  no  one  otter  violence  to  the  person 
of  a  tribune ;  neither  kill  him,  nor  procure  him  to  be  killed ; 
neither  strike  him,  nor  procure  him  to  be  struck.  Let  the 
person  who  offends  against  this  law  be  accursed;  let  his 
effects  be  made  sacred  to  pious  uses,  and  let  every  one 
pursue  him  to  death." 

To  render  this  act  irrevocable,  a  solemn  oath  for  the  per- 
petual observance  of  it  was  imposed,  and  dreadful  impre- 
cations were  denounced  against  any  person  who  should 
propose  to  repeal  it. 

The  college  of  tribunes,  at  its  institution,  was  not  limited 
to  any  precise  number  of  members ;  it  consisted  at  first  of 
euch  persons  as  had  been  most  active  in  procuring  the  estab- 
lishment, and  continued  to  be  filled  with  the  most  zealous 
partisans  of  the  people,  the  number  being  three  or  more, 
according  as  persons  appeared  to  merit  this  honour.  But 
in  process  of  time  both  the  plebeians  who  aspired  to  this 
distinction,  and  the  patricians  who  were  jealous  of  it,  con- 
spired to  augment  the  numbers. — The  first,  in  order  to 
make  way  for  their  own  preferment ;  and  the  second,  to  the 
end  that  they  might  be  the  better  enabled,  on  occasion,  to 
disunite  their  enemies,  and  to  procure  the  negative  of  a 
part,  to  arrest  the  proceedings  of  the  whole.  The  college 
of  tribunes  was  accordingly  augmented  by  degrees  to  ten  ; 
and  a  law  was  made  to  provide  that  the  elections  should 
not  stop  short  of  tliis  number. 

Patricians  could  neither  elect  nor  be  elected  into  this 
office,  although  in  the  midst  of  irregularities  incident  to  all 
unformed,  especially  to  all  popular  governments,  some 
exceptions  are  mentioned,  even  to  the  last  part  of  this  rule. 
The  tribunes  were  at  first  elected  in  the  assembly  of  the 
curiae,  where  the  vote  of  the  poorest  citizen  .was  equal  to 
that  of  the  most  wealthy.  But  it  was  thought  necessary  to 
alter  the  form  of  the  assembly  in  which  the  tribunes  \V.M-I 
elected  to  that  of  the  tribes;  and  by  this  means  to  en:i!>l.- 
the  people  to  make  their  election,  without  any  nmtrol 
from  the  nobles,  either  in  virtue  of  the  authority  of  thf 
senate,  or  the  interposition  of  the  augurs'. 

Such  was  the  institution  of  the  plebeian  tribunes,  \vhil •• 
the  state  yet  knew  of  no  other  magistrate  besides  the  con- 
suls and  the  quaestors,  of  whom  the  last,  even  under  the 
kings,  had  been  employed  as  a  species  of  commissaries,  or 
providers  for  the  army.  Die  expedient  was  adopted  by 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I» 

the  senate,  to  quiet  the  animosity  of  parties ;  but  tended,  in 
fact,  only  to  render  the  contest  between  them  more  equal, 
and  to  multiply  the  subjects  of  dispute.  The  tribunes  being 
vested  with  power  to  assemble  the  people,  could  not  long 
be  confined  to  the  mere  negative  with  which  they  were  at 
first  intrusted;  nor  was  it  easy,  on  every  occasion,  to  dis- 
tinguish the  measures  of  attack  from  those  of  defence ;  and 
the  party  of  the  plebeians,  with  these  officers  at  their  head, 
were  then  in  a  posture,  not  only  to  preserve  their  rights, 
but  likewise  to  gain  to  their  order  continual  accessions  of 
privilege  and  power.  Happily  for  the  state,  there  was  yet 
much  ground  of  this  sort  to  be  gained,  without  transgress- 
ing the  bounds  of  good  order,  or  encroaching  on  the  autho- 
rity of  equitable  government. 

The  popular  leaders  in  this  career  had  to  break  through 
the  bar  of  hereditary  distinction,  which  it  was  pretended, 
contrary  to  the  genius  of  the  republic,  that  no  personal  merit 
and  no  measure  of  ability  could  remove.  One  of  the  first 
steps  they  made  in  pursuit  of  this  object,  was  to  preclude 
every  other  power  in  the  state  from  a  negative  on  thej? 
own  proceedings.  For  this  purpose  it  was  enacted,  by  the 
authority  of  the  tribes,  that  no  one,  under  pain  of  death,  or 
of  an  arbitrary  fine,  should  interrupt  a  tribune  while  he  was 
speaking  to  the  people. 

In  order  to  increase  the  number  of  plebeian  officers, 
whose  aid  the  tribunes  alleged  were  necessary  to  them- 
selves, they,  soon  after  their  own  institution,  procured  that 
of  the  ediles,  who  were  to  inspect  the  markets,  and  have 
charge  of  the  public  buildings  and  public  shows.*  Being 
subordinate  to  the  tribunes,  as  well  as  to  the  consuls,  they 
acted,  upon  occasion,  in  what  related  to  the  policy  of  the 
town,  as  assistants  to  both. 

As  Rome  was  a  place  of  arms,  and  subsisted  in  some  mea- 
sure by  public  magazines;  as  settlements  won  from  the 
enemy  were  often  to  be  disposed  of  to  citizens ;  as  its  insti- 
tutions were  yet  new  and  incomplete ;  and  as  the  patricians 
still  claimed  an  exclusive  right  to  all  the  offices  of  state, 
there  was  much  to  occupy  the  cares  of  the  public— the  dis- 
tribution of  corn  from  the  granaries,  the  division  of  con- 
quered lands,  the  defects  of  the  laws,  and  the  arbitrary  pro- 
ceedings of  the  magistrates.  The  qualifications  of  candidates 
for  the  office  of  consul  furnished,  during  some  ages,  the 
subject  of  continual  debates,  and  frequently  exposed  the 
parties  concerned  in  them,  if  they  escaped  the  swords  of 
their  enemies,  to  perish  by  their  own  dissensions.  Thxrfp 

»  U.  C»  860. 


CH.  II  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  JS 

civil  and  military  transactions  were  constantly  blended  to- 
gether. The  senate  frequently  involved  the  state  in  Avar, 
in  order  to  suspend  its  intestine  divisions,  and  the  people  aa 
often  took  occasion,  from  the  dirticulties  in  which  the  com- 
munity was  involved  by  its  enemies,  to  extort  a  compliance 
with  their  own  demands. 

The  first  subject  of  contention  that  arose  after  the  insti- 
tution of  the  tribunes,  was  a  sequel  of  the  troubles  which 
had  preceded  that  establishment.  The  secession  of  the  peo- 
ple took  place  in  autumn,  the  usual  seed-time  in  Italy ;  and 
the  labours  of  that  season  having  been  accordingly  inter- 
rupted, the  city  was  threatened  with  famine ;  and  the  sen- 
ate exerted  all  its  industry  in  guarding  against  this  evil. 
After  the  public  granaries  were  filled  for  this  purpose,  it 
became  a  question,  upon  what  terms,  and  at  what  price,  the 
poorer  citizens  should  be  supplied  from  thence.  Their  in- 
solence in  the  late  mutiny,  and  the  part  which  they  them- 
selves, by  suspending  the  labours  of  the  field,  had  taken,  in 
bringing  on  the  distress  with  which  they  were  now  threat- 
ened, were  fully  stated  against  them  in  this  deliberation. 
The  opportunity  was  thought  to  be  fair,  to  recal  the  several 
concessions  which  had  been  extorted  from  the  senate,  and, 
in  particular,  to  oblige  the  people  to  part  with  their  tribunes, 
and  to  return  within  the  former  bounds  of  their  duty. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  a  contumelious  speech,  deliv- 
ered in  the  senate  by  the  celebrated  Caius  Marcius  Corio- 
lanus.  The  younger  nobility  applauded  his  sentiments ;  but 
the  greater  part  of  the  senate,  having  recently  escaped  from 
a  popular  storm,  were  unwilling  to  engage  themselves  anew 
in  the  same  dangerous  situation.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
appease  the  people,  who  were  greatly  incensed  at  the  pro- 
posal which  had  been  made  to  subdue  them,  they  agreed  to 
deliver  corn  from  the  public  granaries,  at  a  price  below  that 
of  the  most  plentiful  season ;  and,  by  this  proceeding,  for 
the  present  pacified  the  tribunes,  but  flattered  their  pre- 
sumption, and  encouraged  them  to  meditate  still  further 
demands.  The  distress  with  which  their  constituents  had 
been  threatened  was  prevented,  but  the  insult  they  had  re 
ceived  from  Caius  Marcius  was  not  avenged;  and  they 
cited  him  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  the  people,  to  an- 
s;>  or  for  his  conduct  to  the  party  he  had  offended.  The 
senate  and  patricians  were  disposed  to  protect  him;  but, 
trusting  that  by  the  majority  of  their  votes  they  might  be 
able  to  acquit  him  in  the  cotnitia  of  the  centuries,  the  only 
assembly  before  which,  from  the  time  of  its  first  institution, 
any  capital  charge  had  been  hitherto  laid  against  a  citizen, 
they  suttered  the  trial  to  proceed.  In  this,  however*  thuy 


16  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.I. 

were  disappointed.  The  tribunes  insisted,  that  the  people 
should  assemble  in  their  tribes :  nnd  having-  prevailed  in  this 
previous  question,  the  accused,  as  being  already  condemned 
by  tlu's  determination  relating  to  the  form  of  his  trial,  with- 
drew from  Ms  sentence. 

Coriolanus,  in  resentment  of  this  prosecution,  which  for- 
ced him  into  exile,  joined  the  enemies  of  his  country,  and 
by  increasing  the  alarm  of  war  from  abroad,  helped  to  sus- 
pend for  a  while  the  animosities  of  which  he  himself  had 
furnished  the  occasion  at  home.*  The  contest  in  which  he 
had  engaged  the  parties,  ended  with  his  own  exile,  and  was 
not  attended  with  any  other  political  effects ;  but  it  merits 
a  place  in  these  observations,  as  a  proof  of  the  great  influ- 
ence which  the  plebeian  party,  under  its  new  leaders,  had 
acquired,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  singular  state  of  the 
Roman  policy,  by  which,  in  the  uncertain  choice  of  different 
modes  of  assembly,  the  very  form  of  the  government  was 
left  undetermined,  until  the  occasion  occurred  on  which 
this  government  was  to  act. 

The  calm  which  the  approach  of  Coriolanus,  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  Volsci,  produced  within  the  city,  was  of  no 
longer  duration  than  the  alarm  which  produced  it.  As  soon 
as  the  external  enemy  withdrew,  the  parties  within  resum- 
ed their  disputes ;  but  on  a  subject  which  was  still  more 
important  than  that  which  had  recently  employed  them; 
and  which,  continuing  to  be  moved  at  intervals,  served  to 
the  last  hour  of  the  republic  as  an  object  of  popular  zeal,  or 
furnished  a  specious  pretence,  which  ambitious  and  design- 
ing men  continually  employed,  to  captivate  the  ears  of  the 
populace.  This  was  the  most  popular  of  all  propositions—- 
an equal  division  of  land  property,  known  by  the  name  of 
the  agrarian  law. 

Wliile  the  Romans  were  making  their  first  acquisitions  of 
territory,  their  conquests  were  understood  to  be  made  for 
the  people,  and  were  accordingly  divided  among  them,  or 
given  to  those  who  had  not  a  sufficient  provision  for  the 
subsistence  of  their  families.  But  of  late,  during  a  consid- 
erable period,  while  the  republic  barely  withstood  the  at- 
tacks of  the  exiled  king,  or  recovered  the  losses  sustained  in 
the  wars  with  the  numerous  enemies  that  supported  him, 
she  had  either  made  few  acquisitions  of  this  sort,  or,  suitably 
to  the  growing  disparity  of  ranks,  which,  though  not  neces- 
sary in  very  small  republics,  becomes  so  in  proportion  as 
nations  extend,  suffered  the  conquered  lands  to  pass  by  con- 
nivance, occupancy,  or  purchase,  into  the  hands  of  power* 


C«.  II.]  ROMAN   KEPUHLK'..  17 

ful  citizens,  who  made  use  of  thea-;  opportunities  to  appro- 
priate estates  to  themselves. 

The  tribunes  had  not  yet  begun  to  make  their  complaint* 
on  this  subject,  when  they  were  anticipated  by  the  consul 
Sp.  Cassius.*  He  affected  great  zeal  for  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  proportional  indignation  against  their  oppres- 
sors. He  complained,  in  particular,  of  the  improper  uso 
which  had  been  recently  made  of  the  conquered  lands,  by 
suffering1  them  to  become  the  property  of  persons  who  were 
already  too  rich.  Having  himself  made  some  conquests,  he 
showed  how  the  lands  of  the  republic  ought  to  have  been 
disposed  of,  by  making  an  equal  division  of  his  own  acquisi- 
tions among  the  more  indigent  citizens.  He  obtained  an 
act  of  the  people  to  appoint  three  commissioners  to  inquire 
into  the  abuses  which  had  been  committed  in  the  disposal 
of  lands  acquired  from  the  enemy,  and  to  consider  of  the 
proper  corrections. 

The  senate,  and  the  patricians  in  general,  were  greatly 
alarmed ;  most  of  them  had  possessions  that  seemed  to  fall 
within  the  object  of  this  inquiry.  The  popular  party  alleg- 
ed, that  conquered  lands  being  acquired  by  the  joint  labours, 
and  at  the  common  hazard,  of  all  the  people,  should  be 
equally  divided  among  them.  The  patricians  contended,  that 
these  levelling  principles  led  to  confusion  and  anarchy; 
that,  in  a  state  of  which  all  the  territory  was  actually,  and 
within  a  few  centuries,  acquired  by  conquest,  these  maxima 
could  not  be  applied  without  the  subversion  of  government, 
as  well  as  of  property. 

In  this  contest  Cassius  appeared  to  have  the  advantage  of 
numbers  on  his  side ;  and  if  he  had  confined  his  views  to  the 
division  of  lands,  unuer  which  he  was  said  to  disguise  a  more 
dangerous  intention,  the  senate  and  nobles  must  have  at 
least  devised  considerable  settlements  for  the  people,  in 
order  to  elude  his  demands.  But  while  Cassius  alarmed 
the  rich  with  danger  to  their  property,  he  at  the  same  time 
alarmed  every  citizen  with  danger  to  his  personal  conse- 
quence, by  offering  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  every  alien, 
who,  at  his  summons,  crowded  from  all  the  cantons  of 
Latium  to  vote  in  the  assemblies  of  the  Roman  people.  His 
colleague  opposed  this  measure,  and  the  city,  for  the  pre- 
sent, was  saved  from  the  intrusion  of  strangers.  The 
attempt,  however,  gave  offence  to  the  people,  as  well  as  to 
the  senate ;  and  the  unhappy  author  of  it,  in  order  to  regain 
the  favour  of  his  party,  proposed  a  resolution,  not  only  to 
make  a  gratuitous  distribution  of  corn,  but  even  to  refund 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1. 

tvhat  had  been  formerly  paid  by  any  citizen  at  the  public 
granaries.  This  proposal  too  was  interpreted  to  his  preju- 
dice, and  raisH  a  suspicion  that  he  meant,  with  the  aid  ol 
aliens  and  of  indigent  citizens,  to  usurp  the  government. 
On  this  supposition  all  parties  in  the  state  combined  against 
him,  and  he  was  condemned  to  suft'er  the  punishment  of 
treason. 

The  tribunes  had  no  sooner  accomplished  the  ruin  of  Cas- 
sius,  in  which  they  concurred  with  the  senate,  than  they 
insisted  for  the  execution  of  the  law  he  had  framed,  and  for 
the  nomination  of  three  commissioners  already  resolved  on, 
for  the  division  of  conquered  lands.  They  protected  the 
people  in  refusing  to  serve  the  state  in  its  wars,  until  this 
demand  should  be  granted.  And  having  absolute  and  irre- 
sistible power  to  stop  all  proceedings  in  the  city,  they  pre- 
vented all  military  levies  within  the  walls,  obliged  the  con- 
suls, during  a  certain  period,  to  erect  their  standard  in  the 
country,  and  there  to  force  the  herdsman  and  labourer  to 
enlist,  by  driving  away  the  cattle,  and  distraining  the  effects 
of  those  who  were  unwilling  to  obey  them. 

In  the  issue  of  these  contests,  the  senate  despairing  of 
being  able  to  divert  the  people  from  their  purpose,  agreed 
to  the  nomination  of  three  commissioners,  who  should  be 
sent  into  Greece  to  make  a  collection  of  such  laws  as,  being 
found  salntary  in  that  country,  might  be  transferred  to 
Rome.  Soon  after  the  return  of  the  commissioners,  the 
senate  approved  their  report,  and  concurred  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  famous  decemvirs  to  compile  a  body  of  laws 
for  the  commonwealth. 

The  decemvirs  were  appointed  merely  to  make  the  draft 
of  a  new  code,  and  to  propose  matter  for  the  consideration 
of  the  senate  and  people,*  from  whom  alone  the  proposi- 
tions could  receive  the  authority  of  laws ;  yet  the  persons 
named  for  this  purpose,  as  the  history  bears,  had  credit 
enough  with  the  people  to  be  vested  with  a  temporary  sove- 
reignty, in  which  they  superseded  the  authority  of  the  sen- 
ate, as  well  as  that  of  the  consuls,  and  had  unlimited  power 
over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Before 
their  commission  expired,  they  presented  a  number  of  laws, 
engraven  on  ten  tables  or  plates,  and  containing  a  summary 
of  the  privileges  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  people,  of  the  crimes 
to  be  punished  by  the  magistrate,  and  of  the  forms  to  be 
observed  in  all  judicial  proceedings.  They  at  the  same 
time,  informed  the  people,  that  their  plan  was  still  incom- 
plete, that  many  useful  additions  were  yet  to  be  made ;  and, 

*  u  c.  ae. 


CH.  II.] 


HUMAN    REPUBLIC. 


19 


upon  the  faith  of  these  declarations,  obtained  for  another 
year  the  renewal  of  their  powers,  with  a  change  of  some  of 
the  persons  who  were  named  in  the  commission. 

In  this  second  year  of  the  decemvirs'  appointment,  two 
more  tables  or  plates  were  added  to  the  former  ten ;  a  cir- 
cumstance from  which  this  part  of  the  Roman  law  has 
derived  its  name.  This  supplement,  as  well  as  the  former 
body  of  laws,  was  received  with  great  avidity,  and  the 
twelve  tables  continued  to  be  respected  at  Rome,  as  the 
ancient  titles  by  which  men  are  supposed  to  hold  any  valu- 
able rights  are  revered  in  all  nations.  No  complete  copy  of 
them  being  transmitted  to  modern  times,  we  cannot  fully 
judge  of  their  value ;  but,  from  the  fragments  remaining  in 
authors  that  occasionally  cite  them,  this  code  appears,  in 
some  clauses,  to  have  been  a  first  draft  of  the  regulations 
which  are  necessary  in  the  establishment  of  property,  and 
in  making  private  parties  answerable  to  public  judicatures 
in  all  their  disputes. — The  property  of  land  was  established 
by  a  fair  prescription  of  two  years,  and  that  of  other  effects 
by  a  prescription  of  one  year. — Any  controversy  concerning 
the  boundaries  of  land  property  was  to  be  determined  by 
arbiters  or  jurymen  appointed  by  the  magistrate. — Parties 
cited  to  a  court  of  justice  were  not  at  liberty  to  decline 
attendance. — Judgment  in  capital  cases  was  competent  only 
to  the  assembly  of  the  people  in  their  centuries ;  but  this 
supreme  tribunal  might  delegate  its  powers  by  a  special 
commission. 

The  ardour  of  the  people  tor  obtain  tliis  code,  and  the  un- 
limited powers  which  they  intrusted  to  the  commissioners 
appointed  to  frame  it,  liad  nearly  cost  them  their  liberty; 
and  thus  ended  the  progress  of  their  commonwealth.  The 
two  additional  tables,  as  well  as  the  first  ten,  liaving  been 
posted  up  for  public  inspection,  and  liaving  been  formally 
enacted  by  the  senate  and  people,  the  object  of  the  decem- 
virs' commission  was  obtained,  and  it  was  expected  that 
they  were  to  abdicate  their  power ;  but  the  principal  per- 
sons vested  with  this  trust,  having  procured  it  with  a  view 
to  usurp  the  government,  or  being  debauched  by  two  years' 
uncontrolled  dominion  in  the  possession  of  it,  refused  to 
withdraw  from  their  station,  and  boldly  ventured  to  persist 
in  the  exercise  of  their  power  after  the  time  for  which  it 
was  given  had  elapsed.  At  Rome  the  power  of  the  magis- 
trate was  supposed  to  determine  by  liis  own  resignation, 
and  the  republic  might  suffer  a  peculiar  inconvenieney  from 
tho  obstinacy  of  particular  persons,  who  continued  to  exer- 
cise the  functions  ~f  oilk-e  after  the  period  assigned  them  by 
Javr  was  expired. 


20  HISTORY  OF  TII-R  [B.  1. 

The  decemvirs  took  advantage  of  this  defect  in  the  con- 
stitution, continued  the  exercise  of  their  power  beyond  tho 
period  for  which  it  was  given,  took  rnwures  to  prevent  the 
restoration  of  the  senate  and  the  asseiuuiicd  of  the  people, 
or  the  election  of  ordinary  magistrates,  and,  even  without 
employing-  much  artifice,  got  the  people  to  acquiesce  in  their 
usurpation,  as  an  evil  wliich  could  not  he  remedied;  and 
the  usurpers,  in  this  as  in  other  instances,  seemed  to  meet 
with  a  submission  that  was  proportioned  to  the  confidence 
with  wliich  they  assumed  their  power.  The  wrong-s  of  the 
state  appeared  to  make  little  impression  on  parties  who  \iad 
an  equal  concern  to  prevent  them ;  but  a  barbarous  insult 
offered  to  a  private  family  rekindled  or  gave  occasion  to 
the  breaking  out  of  a  flame,  which  injuries  of  a  more  public 
nature  only  seemed  to  have  smothered. 

Appius  Claudius,  one  of  the  usurpers,  being  captivated 
with  the  beauty  of  Virginia,  the  child  of  an  honourable 
family,  and  already  betrothed  to  a  person  of  her  own  con- 
dition, endeavoured  to  make  himself  master  of  her  person, 
by  depriving  her  at  once  of  her  parentage  and  of  her  liberty. 
For  this  purpose,  under  pretence  that  she  had  been  oorn 
in  servitude,  and  that  she  had  been  stolen  away  in  her  in- 
fancy, he  suborned  a  person  to  claim  her  as  Liis  slave.  The 
decemvir  himself  being  judge  in  this  iniquitous  suit,  gave 
judgment  against  the  helpless  party,  and  ordered  her  to  be 
removed  to  the  house  of  the  person  by  whom  she  was 
claimed.  In  this  affecting  scene,  the  father,  under  pretence 
of  bidding  a  last  farewell  toliis  child,  came  forward  to  em- 
brace her ;  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude,  having  then 
no  other  means  to  preserve  her  honour,  he  availed  himself  of 
the  prerogative  of  a  Roman  father,  and  stabbed  her  to  the 
heart  with  a  knife.  A  general  indignation  instantly  arose 
from  this  piteous  sight,  and  all  parties  concurred,  as  at  the 
expulsion  of  the  Tarquins,  to  deliver  the  republic  from  so 
hateful  a  tyranny.* 

The  senate  and  patrician  administration  being  re-estab- 
lished by  the  cheerful  concurrence  of  the  plebeians,  and 
the  former  government  restored  with  the  consent  of  all 
parties,  a  tide  of  mutual  confidence  ensued,  which  led  to 
the  choice  of  the  most  popular  persons  into  the  office  of 
consul,  and  procured  a  ready  assent  from  the  nobles  to  every 
measure  which  tended  to  gratify  the  people. 

The  danger  which  had  been  recently  experienced  from 
the  exercise  of  uncommon  discretionary  powers,  produced  « 
a  resolution  to  forbid,  under  the  severest  penalties  of  coo- 


C*.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  ** 

Vacation  and  death,  any  person  ever  to  propose  the  granting 
of  any  such  powers.  The  consecration  of  the  persons  of 
the  tribunes,  which,  under  the  late  usurpation,  had  almost  lost 
its  effect,  was  now  renewed,  and  extended,  though  in  a 
meaner  degree,  to  the  ediles  and  inferior  officers,  who  were 
supposed  to  act  under  the  tribunes  in  preserving  the  rights 
of  the  people. 

The  patricians  likewise  consented  to  have  the  acts  of  the 
senate  formally  recorded,  placed  in  the  temple  of  Ceres, 
find  committed  to  the  care  of  the  edilea.  This  was  in  fact 
a  considerable  diminution  of  the  power  of  the  consuls,  who 
had  been  hitherto  considered  as  the  keopers  and  interpreters 
of  the  senate's  decrees,  and  who  had  often  suppressed  or 
carried  into  execution  the  acts  of  this  body  at  pleasure. 

But  the  most  striking  effect,  ascribed  to  the  present  una- 
nimity of  the  citizens,  was  the  case  with  which  the  ple- 
beian assemblies  were  permitted  to  extend  the  authority  of 
their  acts  to  all  the  different  orders  of  the  commonwealth.  • 

Equity  and  sound  policy  required  that  the  plebeians 
should  have  a  voice  in  the  legislature  of  a  commonwealth 
of  which  they  made  so  considerable  a  part.  This  privilege 
appeared  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  them  against 
the  partial  influence  of  a  separate  number  of  men.  They 
accordingly  obtained  it ;  but  in  a  manner  that  tended  to  dis- 
join, rather  than  to  unite  into  one  body,  the  collateral  mem- 
bers of  the  state.  Instead  of  a  deliberative  voice,  by  which 
they  might  concur  with  the  senate  and  comitia  of  the  cen- 
turies, or  by  which  they  might  control  and  amend  their  de- 
crees, they  obtained  for  themselves  a  separate  and  indepen- 
dent power  of  legislation,  by  which,  as  a  counterpoise  to 
the  patrician  acts,  which  might  pass  in  the  centuries  with- 
out their  concurrence,  they  could,  on  their  part,  and  with- 
out the  presence  or  consent  of  the  nobles,  make  plebeian 
acts  that  could  equally  bind  the  whole  community.t 

So  far  animosity  to  the  late  usurpation  had  united  all 
orders  of  men  in  the  measures  that  followed  the  expulsion 
of  the  decemvirs ;  but  the  spirit  of  cordiality  did  not  long 
survive  the  sense  of  those  injuries,  and  that  resentment 
to  ;i  i-ommon  enemy  from  which  this  transient  unanimity 
;iro-o.  The  plebeians  had  removed  some  part  of  the  estab- 
lishment, in  which  the  patricians  were  unequally  favoured ; 
but  they  bore  with  the  greater  impatience  the  inequalities 
which  remained,  and  by  which  they  were  still  condemned 
to  act  a  subordinate  part  in  the  commonwealth.  They 
were  stilJ  excluded  from  the  office  of  consul,  and  from  that 

*  u.  c.  ao*.  *  u.  c.  304 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  i 

of  the  priesthood.  They  were  debarred  from  intermarriaga 
with  the  nobles  by  an  express  law,  wliich  had  been  enact- 
ed,  lest  the  sexes  from  the  passion,  forgetting1  distinctions, 
should  in  this  manner  unite  their  different  ranks ;  but  being 
now,  in  some  measure,  by  the  late  act  in  favour  of  the  comi- 
tia  of  the  tribes,  become  joint  or  rival  sovereigns  of  the  state, 
they  could  not  long  acquiesce  in  these  unequal  conditions. 

A  few  years  after  the  restoration  of  the  commonwealth, 
Canuleius,  a  plebeian,  being  one  of  the  tribunes,  moved  the 
celebrated  act  which  bears  his  name,  to  repeal  the  clause  ol 
the  twelve  tables  which  prohibited  the  intermarriage  of  pa- 
tricians and  plebeians.*  The  other  nine  tribunes  joined  at 
the  same  time  in  a  claim  of  more  importance— that  the  office 
of  consul  should  b«  laid  open  to  all  the  different  orders  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  might  be  held  by  plebeians,  as  well 
as  patricians.  The  senate  and  the  whole  order  of  nobles, 
having  for  some  time,  by  delays,  and  by  involving  the  state, 
as  usual,  in  foreign  wars,  endeavoured  to  suspend  the 
determination  of  these  questions,  were  at  length  obliged  to 
gratify  the  people  in  the  less  material  part  of  their  preten- 
sions respecting  the  intermarriage  of  different  ranks,  in 
order,  if  possible,  to  pacify  them  on  the  refusal  of  the  more 
important  claim. 

To  elude  their  demands  on  this  material  point,  it  was  ob- 
served, that  of  the  sacrifices  and  other  duties  belonging  to 
the  priesthood,  wliich,  by  the  sacred  laws  of  religion,  could 
be  performed  only  by  persons  of  noble  birth,  many  were  to 
be  performed  by  the  consul,  and  could  not,  without  profana- 
tion, be  committed  to  any  person  of  plebeian  extraction ; 
and  that,  by  this  consideration  alone,  the  plebeians  must  be 
for  ever  excluded  from  the  dignity  of  consul.  Superstition, 
for  the  most  part,  being  founded  on  custom  alone,  no  change 
can  be  made  in  the  custom,  without  appearing  to  destroy 
the  religion  that  is  founded  upon  it.  This  difficulty  accord- 
ingly put  a  stop  for  a  while,  to  the  hasty  pace  with  which 
the  plebeians  advanced  to  the  consulate  :  but  this  obstruc- 
tion was  at  length  removed,  as  many  difficulties  are  removed 
in  human  affairs,  by  a  slight  evasion,  and  by  the  mere  change 
of  a  name.f  The  title  of  consul  being  changed  for  that  of 
military  tribune,  and  no  sacerdotal  function  being  included 
in  the  duties  of  this  office,  plebeians,  though  not  qualified 
to  be  consuls,  were  allowed  to  offer  themselves  as  candidates, 
and  to  be  elected  military  tribunes  with  consular  power. 
In  tliis  manner  the  supposed  profanation  was  avoided,  and 
plebeians  were  allowed  to  be  qualified  for  the  highest  offloo 
of  the  state. 

» ir.  c.  3oa.  t  u.  a  3«9. 


fa.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC  •« 

Together  with  the  separation  of  the  military  and  sacer- 
dotal functions,  which  took  place  on  this  occasion,  another 
change,  more  permanent  and  of  greater  moment  was  effected. 
Ever  since  the  institution  of  the  census,  or  muster,  the  en- 
rolment of  the  people  was  became  a  principal  object  of  tho 
executive  power.  In  the  first  ages  it  belonged  to  the  king, 
together  with  all  the  other  functions  of  state.  In  the  sequel, 
it  devolved  on  the  consuls ;  and  they  accordingly,  at  every 
period  of  five  years,  by  the  rules  of  this  office,  could  dispose 
of  every  citizen's  rank,  assign  him  his  class,  place  him  in  the 
rolls  of  the  senate,  or  on  that  of  the  knights,  or  strike  him 
off  from  either ;  and,  by  charging  him  with  all  the  burdens 
of  a  subject,  while  they  stripped  him  of  the  privileges  of  a 
citizen,  deprive  him  at  once  of  his  political  consequence,  and 
of  his  state  as  a  Roman. 

These  regulations  were  accordingly  enforced,  not  held  up 
into  public  view  merely  to  awe  the  people.  The  magistrate 
actually  took  an  account  of  the  citizen's  estate,  inquired 
into  his  character,  and  assigned  him  his  place ;  promoted  him 
to  the  senate  or  to  the  knighthood;  degraded  or  disfran- 
chised, according  as  he  judged  the  party  worthy  or  unwor- 
thy of  his  freedom,  of  the  rank  which  he  held,  or  of  that  to 
which  he  aspired,  in  the  commonwealth. 

So  important  a  trust  committed  to  the  discretion  of  an 
officer  elected  for  a  different  purpose,  took  its  rise  in  the 
simplicity  of  a  rude  age ;  but  continued  for  a  considerable 
period  without  any  flagrant  examples  of  abuse.  It  was, 
nevertheless,  that  branch  of  the  consular  magistracy  which 
the  patricians  were  least  willing  to  communicate  or  to  share 
with  the  plebeians.  While  they  admitted  them,  therefore, 
to  be  elected  tribunes  with  consular  power,  they  stipulated, 
that  the  charge  of  presiding  in  the  census,  or  musters,  should 
be  disjoined  from  it;  and  that,  under  the  title  of  censors,  this 
charge  should  remain  with  persons  of  patrician  birth.  *  The  j 
contended  for  this  separation,  not  with  a  professed  inten- 
tion to  reserve  the  office  of  censor  to  their  own  order,  but 
under  pretence  that  persons  invested  with  the  consular 
power,  being  so  frequently  employed  in  the  field  against 
the  enemies  of  the  commonwealth,  could  not  attend  to  the 
affairs  of  the  city,  or  perform  all  the  duties  of  censor  at  their 
regular  periods. 

The  number  of  censors,  like  that  of  the  consuls,  was  lim- 
ited to  two  ;  but  that  of  the  consular  tribunes  was  left  un* 
determined,  and  at  successive  elections  was  augmented  from 
three  to  eight.  Tlus  has  given  occasion  to  some  historians, 

*  U.  C.  310. 


24  HISTORY  OF  THK 

who  are  quoted  by  Livy,  to  ascribe  the  institution  of  this 
office,  not  to  the  importunity  of  the  plebeian  party,  but  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  state ;  which  being  assailed  by  numer- 
ous enemies,  and  not  having  as  yet  devised  the  method  of 
multiplying  commanders,  under  the  titles  of  proconsul,  were 
led  to  substitute  officers  of  a  different  denomination,  whose 
numbers  might  be  increased  at  discretion.  It  is  indeed  pro- 
bable, that,  in  the  progress  of  this  government,  new  institu- 
tions, and  the  separation  of  departments,  were  suggested  no 
less  by  the  multiplicity  of  growing  affairs,  than  by  the  preten- 
sions of  party,  or  by  the  ambition  of  separate  pretenders  to 
power.  In  the  first  of  those  ways,  we  are  led  to  account  for 
the  institution  of  the  plebeian  ediles,  already  mentioned ;  for 
that  of  the  praefectus  annonae,  or  inspectors  of  the  markets, 
together  with  the  additions  that  were,  in  the  course  of  these 
changes,  continually  made  to  the  number  of  quaestors. 

The  quaestors  had  been  long  established  at  Rome;  they 
had  charge  of  the  public  funds,  and  followed  the  kings  and 
the  consuls  as  commissaries  or  provisors  in  the  field.  During 
the  busy  period  which  we  have  been  now  considering,  their 
number  was  augmented  from  two  to  four ;  and  the  places 
were  filled,  for  the  most  part,  with  patricians,  though  not 
limited  to  persons  of  this  rank.* 

The  praefectus  annonae,  or  inspector  of  the  markets,  was 
an  officer  occasionally  named,  on  a  prospect  of  scarcity,  to 
guard  against  .famine,  and  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the 
people.  Rome  was  in  fact  a  place  of  arms,  or  a  military 
station,  often  depending  as  much  for  subsistence  on  the  fore- 
sight and  care  of  its  officers,  as  on  the  course  of  its  ordinary 
markets.  Without  a  proper  attention  to  this  particular  on 
the  part  of  the  state,  the  people  were  exposed  to  suffer 
from  scarcity.  On  the  approaches  of  famine,  they  became 
mutinous  and  disorderly,  and  were  ready  to  barter  their 
freedom,  a»>d  the  constitution  of  their  country,  for  bread. 
During  the  famine  which  first  suggested  the  separation  of 
this  trust  from  that  of  the  ordinary  officers  of  state,  Sp. 
Maelius,  a  Roman  knight,  being  possessed  of  great  wealth, 
engrossed  great  quantities  of  corn;  and  having  it  in  hia 
power  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  poor,  endeavoured  to  form 
a  dangerous  party  among  them,  and  by  their  means,  to  raise 
himself  to  the  head  of  the  common  wealth. f  The  senate  took 
the  alarm,  and,  a*  in  the  most  dangerous  crisis  of  the  state, 
had  recourse  to  the  nomination  of  a  dictator,  and  appointed 
the  aged  Cincinnatus  to  that  office.  Maeliua  being  cited  to 
appear  before  him,  and  having  refused  to  answer,  was  put 
lo  death. 

•V.C.3B3.  tV.  6.313. 


CB.  ii.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  25 

The  care  of  supplying  the  people  with  corn,  which  had 
been  at  this  time  commited  to  L.  Minucius,  was  from  thence- 
forward intrusted  to  citizens  of  the  first  rank,  and  the  office 
itself  became  necessary  in  the  political  establishment  of  the 
commonwealth. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  Roman  Republic  as  a 
scene  of  mere  political  deliberations  and  councils,  prepared 
for  contention,  and  seemingly  unable  to  exert  any  united 
strength.  The  state,  however,  presented  itself  to  the  na- 
tions around  it  under  a  very  different  aspect,  as  a  horde  of 
warriors,  who  had  made  and  preserved  their  acquisitions  by 
force,  and  who  never  betrayed  any  signs  of  weakness  in  the 
foreign  wars  they  had  to  maintain. 

la  their  transition  from  monarchy  to  republic,  indeed, 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  temporary  intermission  of  na- 
tional exertions.  Private  citizens,  annually  raised  to  the 
head  of  the  republic,  did  not  with  their  elevation  acquire 
the  dignity  of  princes ;  they  did  not  command  the  same 
respect  from  their  fellow-citizens  at  home,  nor  had  the  same 
consideration  from  rival  nations  abroad.  The  frequent  dis- 
sensions of  the  people  seemed  to  render  them  an  easy  prey 
to  their  enemies.  During  the  life  of  Tarquin  many  powers 
united  against  them  in  behalf  of  the  exiled  king.  They 
were  stripped  of  their  territory,  confined  to  the  walls  of 
their  city,  and  deserted  by  their  allies.  The  fortune  of  the 
state  seemed  to  fall  with  its  monarchy.  The  event,  however, 
belied  these  appearances,  and  the  power  of  the  annual  magis- 
tracy soon  became  more  formidable  abroad,  though  less 
awful  at  home,  than  that  of  the  monarch.  The  republican 
government  sought  for  respite  from  domestic  trouble  in  the 
midst  of  foreign  war,  and  the  forces  of  the  state,  instead  of 
being  restrained,  were  impelled  into  action  by  intestine 
divisions.  The  ambition  with  which  the  lower  ranks  of  the 
people  endeavoured  to  watch  their  superiors,  the  solicitude 
with  which  the  higher  order  endeavoured  to  preserve  its 
distinction,  the  exercise  of  ability  which,  in  this  contest,  was 
common  to  both,  enabled  them  to  act  against  foreign  enemies 
\\ith  a  spirit  that  was  whetted,  but  not  worn  out,  in  their 
domestic  quarrels. 

Under  the  influence  of  councils  fertile  in  the  invention  of 
military  distinctions,  and  in  armies  of  which  the  soldier  was 
-oused  by  many  incentives  to  military  ambition,  the  frequent 
change  of  commanders,  which  is  commonly  impolitic,  proved 
a  perpetual  renovation  of  the  ardour  and  spirit  with  which 
armies  were  led.  In  public  deliberations  on  the  subject  ot 
war,  the  vehement  ambition  of  individuals  proved  a  cont'm- 
oal  incentive  to  rigorous  resolutions,  by  which  the  state  not 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I 

only  soon  recovered  the  consequence  which  it  seemed  ta 
have  lost  in  its  transition  from  monarchy,  but  was  speedily 
enabled  to  improve  upon  all  its  former  advantages,  as  head 
of  the  Latin  confederacy ;  frequently  to  vanquish  the  Sabines, 
the  Hernici,  the  Volsci,  and  Etruscans,  and,  in  about  a  hun- 
dred years  after  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin,  to  extend  its  do- 
minion greatly  beyond  the  territories  which  had  been  in  the 
possession  of  that  prince.  In  one  direction,  from  Falerium  t'; 
Anxur,  about  sixty  miles ;  and  in  the  other,  from  the  SUIT) 
mits  of  the  Apennines  to  the  sea :  and  Rome,  the  metropoh 
of  this  little  empire,  was  become,  with  a  few  competitors, 
one  of  the  principal  states  of  Italy.* 

The  first  and  nearest  object  of  its  emulation  at  this  period 
was  Veise,  an  Etruscan  principality,  of  which  the  capita., 
situated  about  nine  miles  from  Rome,  was  built  on  an  emi- 
nence, and  secured  by  precipices. 

The  Romans,  even  before  the  change  of  their  government 
from  the  form  of  a  principality  to  that  of  a  republic,  had 
been  in  possession  of  the  Tiber,  and  both  its  banks ;  but 
on  the  right  of  this  river  were  still  circumscribed  by  the 
Veiaentes,  with  whom  they  had  waged  long  and  desperate 
wars;  and,  as  may  be  supposed  among  rivals  in  so  close 
"  a  neighbourhood,  with  imminent  danger  to  both.  Veia?, 
according  to  Dionysius,  was  equal  in  extent  to  Athens,  and 
like  the  other  Etruscan  cantons,  was  further  advanced  than 
Rome  in  the  arts  of  peace,  probably  better  provided  with  the 
resources  of  war,  but  inferior  in  the  magnanimity  of  its 
councils  and  in  the  courage  of  its  people.  The  Veiaentes 
being,  after  a  variety  of  struggles,  beat  from  the  field,  they 
retired  within  their  walls,  suffered  themselves  to  be  invested, 
and  underwent  a  siege  or  blockade  of  ten  years.  The 
Romans,  in  order  to  reduce  them,  continued  during  those 
ten  years  in  the  field,  without  any  interruption  or  distinction 
of  seasons ;  made  secure  approaches,  fortifying  themselves  in 
the  posts  which  they  successively  occupied,  and  in  the  en<l 
entered  the  place  by  storm. f 

While  the  Romans  were  probably  enjoying,  on  the  ex- 
tinction of  their  rival,  a  more  than  common  degree  of  im- 
agined security,  they  became  themselves  an  example  of  th« 
instability  of  human  aflairs;  being  assailed  by  a  now  ai»'i 
unlooked-for  enemy,  who  came  like  a  stroke  of  lightning 
on  their  settlement,  dispersed  thuir  people,  and  reduced  theij 
habitations  to  ashes. 

The  Gauls,  who  are  said  to  have  passed  the  Alps  in 
three  several  migrations,  about  two  hundred  years  beforw 

*  U.  C.  344.  t  U.  C,  357. 


CM.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  27 

tins  (late,  being  now  masters  of  all  the  plains  on  the  Po,  and 
»f  ail  the  coasts  of  the  Adriatic  to  the  banks  of  the  river 
Sena,  where  they  had  a  settlement,  which,  from  their  name 
was  called  Sena  Gallia;  and  being  still  bent  on  extending 
their  possessions,  or  shifting  their  habitations,  had  passed  the 
Apennines,  and  laid  siege  to  Clusium,  the  capital  of  a  small 
nation  in  Tuscany.  The  inhabitants  of  this  place  made 
application  to  the  Romans  for  succour;  but  could  obtain 
mi  more  than  a  deputation  to  intercede  with  the  Gauls  in 
their  behalf.  The  deputies  who  were  sent  on  this  busings 
and  commissioned  to  act  only  as  mediators,  having  appeared 
in  arms  on  the  side  of  the  besieged,  the  Gauls  complained 
of  their  conduct  as  a  breach  of  faith,  and  as  a  departure  from 
the  neutrality  which  the  Romans  professed:  and  being  de- 
nied satisfaction  on  this  complaint,  they  dropped  their  <le  i-  n 
on  Clusium,  and  turned  their  arms  against  these  mediators, 
who  had  violated  the  laws  of  war.  They  advanced  on  the 
left  of  the  Tiber,  found  the  Romans  posted  to  receive  them 
ou  the  Allia,  a  small  river  which  was  the  limit  of  the  Roman 
territory,  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  about  ten  miles  from 
Rome ;  and,  with  the  same  impetuosity  which  hitherto  at- 
tended them,  they  passed  the  Allia  on  the  right  of  the  Roman 
army,  drove  them  into  the  angle  that  is  formed  by  the 
confluence  of  the  two  rivers,  put  all  who  withstood  them  to 
the  sword,  and  forced  the  remainder  into  the  Tiber,  win-re 
numbers  perished,  or,  being  cut  off  from  their  retreat  to 
Rome,  were  dispersed  in  the  neighbouring  country. 

This  calamity  is  said  to  have  so  much  stunned  or  over- 
whelmed the  Roman  people,  that  they  made  no  farther 
attempt  to  defend  their  city.*  All  the  youth  that  were  fit 
to  carry  arms  retired  into  the  capitol.  The  weak  or  infirm, 
whether  from  sex  or  age,  fled  as  from  a  place  condemned 
to  destruction,  or  suffered  themselves  to  be  surprised  and 
rut  off  in  the  streets. 

The  Gauls,  having  employed  three  days  in  the  pursuit 
and  slaughter  of  those  who  lied  from  the  field  of  battle,  on 
the  fourth  day  advanced  towards  the  walls  of  Rome.  Hut 
being  alarmed  at  first  by  the  general  desertion  of  the  battle- 
ments, which  they  mistook  for  an  ambuscade  or  an  artifice 
'  tc»  draw  them  into  a  snare,  they  examined  all  the  avenues 
with  c«re  before  they  ventured  to  enter  the  gates.  Th? 
more  effectually  to  dislodge  every  enemy,  they  set  fire  to 
the  city,  reduced  it  to  ashes,  ami  took  post  on  the  ruins,  hi 
order  to  besiege  the  capitol,  which  aione  held  out.  In  thii 
state  of  affairs,  the  republic,  already  so  formidable  to  all  tt« 

*  IT.  c.  3tt. 


88  HISTORY  OF  THE  ^i).  i. 

neighbours,  was  supposed  to  be  extinguished  for  ever.  Th« 
fame  of  its  ruin  reached  even  to  Greece,  where  Rome  began 
to  be  considered  at  this  time  as  a  rising  and  prosperous 
commonwealth. 

The  Gauls  remained  in  possession  of  the  ruins  for  six 
months ;  during  which  time  they  made  a  fruitless  attempt 
to  scale  the  rock  on  which  the  capitol  was  built ;  and  being 
repulsed  by  Manlius,  who,  for  his  vigilance  and  valour  on 
this  occasion,  acquired  the  name  of  Capitolinus,  they  con- 
tinued to  invest  and  block  up  the  fortress,  in  hopes  of  being 
able  to  reduce  it  by  famine.  The  Romans,  who  were  shut 
up  in  the  capitol,  still  preserved  the  forms  of  their  common- 
wealth, and  made  acts  in  the  name  of  the  senate  and  people. 
Sensible  that  Camillus,  under  whose  auspices  they  had 
reduced  the  city  of  Veiae,  and  triumphed  over  many  other 
enemies,  now  in  exile  on  the  score  of  an  invidious  charge 
of  embezzling  the  spoils  he  had  won  at  that  place,  was  the 
fittest  person  to  retrieve  their  affairs ;  they  absolved  him  of 
this  accusation,  reinstated  him  in  the  qualification  to  com- 
mand their  armies;  and,  in  order  that  he  might  assemble 
their  allies  and  collect  the  remains  of  their  late  army,  which 
was  dispersed  in  the  neighbouring  country,  vested  him  with 
the  power  of  dictator.  In  this  extremity  of  their  fortunes, 
he  overlooked  his  wrongs,  procured  numbers  to  resort  to  hij 
standard,  and  hastened  to  arm  for  the  preservation  of  his- 
country.  He  came  to  the  relief  of  the  capitol  at  a  critical 
moment,  when  the  besieged,  being  greatly  reduced  by  famine, 
had  already  capitulated,  and  were  paying  a  ransom  for 
themselves  and  their  remaining  effects.  Before  this  trans- 
action was  completed,  he  surprised  the  besiegers,  oblige- 1 
them  to  relinquish  their  prize,  and  afterwards,  in  a  decisive- 
battle  that  was  fought  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  re- 
venged the  disaster  which  his  countrymen  had  suffered  on 
the  banks  of  the  Allia.* 

Although  historians  have  amply  supplied  the  detail  of  his- 
tory before  this  event,  they  nevertheless  acknowledge,  that 
all  prior  evidence  of  facts  perished  in  the  destruction  of 
Home ;  that  all  records  and  monuments  of  what  the  Romans* 
had  formerly  been,  were  then  to  be  gathered  from  theruina 

*  The  establishment  of  the  Legion,  and  the  improvement  made  in 
the  choice  of  its  weapons  and  manner  of  array,  are  mentioned  as  subse- 
quent to  this  da'.e  :  and  the  Romans,  it  is  confessed,  made  less  pro- 
gress  in  every  other  art  than  in  that  ot  war.  Their  general  Camillas, 
at  his  triumph  for  the  victory  obtained  over  the  Gauls,  made  his  entry 
into  Rome,  having  his  visage  painted  with  red  ;  a  practice,  Bays  Pliny, 
which  is  yet  to  be  found  among  nations  of  Africa,  who  remata  in  a  staM 
of  barbarity,  and  which  this  natural  historian  was  inclined  to  consider 
M  characteristic  of  barbarous  manners. 


CM.  111.]  ROMAN  RKPUBLIC.  29 

of  cottages,  which  nad  been  for  several  months  trodden 
under  foot  by  a  barbarous  enemy  ;  that  the  laws  of  the  twelve 
tables,  the  people's  charters  of  right,  and  the  forms  of  the 
onstitution,  were  to  be  collected  in  fragments  of  plates 
which  were  dug  from  the  rubbish  of  their  former  habitations ; 
and  that  nothing  remaining  to  mark  the  former  position  of 
Home,  besides  the  capitol,  raised  on  its  rock,  and  surrounded 
with  ruins,  the  people  deliberated  whether  they  should 
attempt  to  renew  their  settlement  on  this  ground,  or  trans- 
fer it  to  Veioc.  It  had  been  formerly  proposed  to  remove 
to  that  place  one  half  of  the  senate  and  people.  It  was  then 
proposed,  that  they  should  choose  that  as  the  proper  ground 
on  which  to  restore  the  name  and  the  seat  of  their  common- 
wealth. 

Persuaded,  however,  by  Camillus,  the  Romans  determined 
to  remain  in  their  ancient  situation,  proceeded  to  restore 
their  habitations,  and  in  the  course  of  a  year,  accomplished 
the  work  of  rebuilding  their  city.  An  era  from  which,  as 
from  a  second  foundation,  may  be  dated  the  rise  of  the  com- 
monwealth, and  the  beginning  of  a  period,  in  which  its  his- 
tory, though  still  controverted  in  some  particulars,  is  less 
doubtful  than  before,  or  less  disfigured  with  fable. 


CHAP.  III. 

Scene  of  Foreign  War  and  Domestic  Dispute  opened  with  reviving  Rome 
—Faction  or  Conspiracy  oj  Manlius— Condemnation— Plebeian*  elected 
into  the  Office  of  Consular  Tribunes -Aspire  to  the  Consulate -  The  ftrtt 
Plebeian  Consul— Establishment  of  the  Preetor—  Patrician  Ediles—The 
Plebeians  qualified  to  hold  all  the  office*  of  State— The  Measure  of  Roman 
Magistracy  complete— Review  of  the  Constitution— Us  seeming  defects-' 
But  great  success— Policy  of  the  Stale  respecting  Foreign  or  vanquished 
Nut  ions  — Formation  of  the  Legion— Series  of  Wars— With  the  Samnitett 
Campanian* — The  Tarentines—  Pyrrhus—  Sovereignty  of  Italy — Differ- 
ent Footing  on  which  the  Inhabitants  stood, 

TUB  Romans  were  not  allowed  to  restore  their  community, 
nor  to  rebuild  their  habitations  in  peace.*  They  were 
invaded  by  the  Equi,  the  Volsci,  the  Hernici,  the  Etruscans 
and  some  of  their  own  Latin  confederates ;  who  dreading 
the  re- establishment  of  a  commonwealth,  from  which  they 
had  already  suffered  so  much,  and  whose  power  was  so  great 
an  object  of  their  jealousy,  made  every  effort  to  prevent  it. 
During  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  years  wliu  Y 

*  U.  C.  U6. 

B 


30  HISTORY  OF  THB  [B.  I. 

followed,  they  accordingly  had  to  encounter  a  succession  of 
enemies,  in  subdu i  ng  of  whom  they  became  the  sovereigns  of 
Italy ;  while  they  continued  to  undergo  internal  convulsions, 
vvhich,  as  formerly,  proved  the  birth  of  political  institutions, 
rtnd  filled  up  the  measure  of  their  nationa*  establishment. 

During  this  period,  the  plebeians,  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  their  past  acquisitions,  made  continual  efforts  to  ex- 
t  end  their  privileges .  The  tribunes,  by  traducing  the  senate, 
and  by  displaying  in  their  harangues,  the  severities  of  the 
patrician  creditor,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  plebeian  debtor, 
still  inflamed  the  animosity  of  their  party,  the  republic  itself 
was  so  feebly  established,  that  ambitious  citizens  were  en- 
eouraged,  by  means  of  faction  raised  among  persons  of  the 
lower  class,  to  have  thoughts  of  subverting  the  government. 
In  this  manner  Manlius,  the  famous  champion  of  the  capitol, 
who,  as  has,been  observed,  by  his  vigilance  and  valour  pre- 
served that  fortress  from  the  Gauls,  formed  a  design  to  usurp 
the  sovereignty.  Presuming  on  his  merit  in  this  and  other 
services,  he  thought  himself  above  the  laws ;  and  endeavour- 
ing by  his  intrigues  with  the  populace,  to  form  a  party 
against  the  state,  he  incurred,  what  was  at  Rome  of  all 
imputations  the  most  detested,  that  of  aspiring  to  be  king. 
In  Apposition  to  this  conspiracy,  whether  real  or  fictitious, 
the  republic  was  committed  to  the  care  of  a  dictator ;  and 
>fanlius  being  brought  before  him,  endeavoured  to  turn  the 
suspicion  of  malice  and  envy  against  his  accusers. 

The  people,  it  is  said,  while  they  had  in  their  view  the 
capitol,  which  had  been  saved  by  the  vigilance  and  bravery 
of  this  unfortunate  criminal,  hesitated  in  their  judgment; 
but  their  meeting  being  adjourned  to  the  following  day, 
and  to  a  different  place,  they  condemned  him  to  be  thrown 
from  the  rock  on  which  he  had  so  lately  signalized  his  valour. 

Such  alarms  to  the  general  state  of  the  commonwealth, 
had  their  temporary  effect  in  suspending  the  animosity  of 
parties  ;  but  could  not  reconcile  their  interests,  nor  prevent 
the  periodical  heats  which  continually  arose  on  the  return 
of  disputes.*  The  plebeians  had  been  now  above  forty 
years  in  possession  of  a  title  to  hold  the  office  of  consular 
tribune,  but  had  not  been  able  to  prevail  at  any  election. 
The  majority  of  the  centuries  were  still  composed  of  patri- 
cians ;  and  when  candidates  of  plebeian  rank  were  likely,  by 
their  personal  consideration,  to  carry  a  majority,  the  other 
party,  in  such  particular  instances,  had  influence  enough, 
as  has  been  observed,  to  revive  the  election  of  consuls,  a  titi» 
from  which  the  plebeians,  by  law,  were  still  excluded. 

»  V.  C.  «7P. 


Cl.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  31 

The  plebeians,  however,  by  the  zeal  of  their  party,  by  the 
assiduity  and  influence  of  individuals  who  aspired  to  office, 
by  ths  increase  of  their  numbers  in  the  first  and  second 
classes,  by  their  alliance  with  the  patrician  families  in  conse- 
quence of  marriage,  at  last  surmounted  these  difficulties, 
obtained  the  dignity  of  consular  tribune  for  one  of  their  own 
order,  and  from  thenceforward  began  to  divide  the  votes  of 
the  centuries  with  the  patrician  candidates.*  They  were 
i  ccordingly  raised  in  their  turn  to  what  was  then  the  first 
o:h'ce  of  the  state,  and  in  which  notliing  was  wanting  but 
the  title  of  consul.  To  this  too  they  were  soon  led  to 
aspire ;  and  were  urged  to  make  the  concluding  step  in  the 
rise  of  their  order,  by  the  ambition  of  a  female  patrician ; 
who,  being  married  into  a  plebeian  family,  bore  with  impa- 
tience the  mortifications  to  wliich  she  was  exposed  in  the 
condition  of  her  new  relations.  She  excited  her  husband,  she 
engaged  her  own  kindred  among  the  patricians,  she  roused 
the  whole  plebeian  party  to  remove  the  indignities  which  yet 
remained  affixed  to  their  race,  in  being  supposed  unworthy 
to  hold  the  consular  dignity. 

Licinius  Stolo,  the  husband  of  this  lady,  and  Publius 
Sextius,  another  active  and  ambitious  plebeian,  were  placed 
in  the  college  of  tribunes,  in  order  to  urge  this  point,  t  They 
began  the  exercise  of  their  office  by  proposing  three  very 
important  laws :  the  first  intended  for  the  relief  of  insolvent 
debtors ;  by  which  all  payments  made  on  the  score  of  inter- 
est, should  be  deducted  from  the  capital,  and  tfiree  years  be 
allowed  to  pay  off  the  remainder. 

A  second  law  to  limit  the  extent  of  estates  in  land,  by  which 
no  citizen  should  be  allowed  to  engross  above  five  hundred 
ju^era,  or  to  have  in  stock  above  one  hundred  bullocks,  and 
five  hundred  goats  and  sheep. 

A  third  law  to  restore  the  election  of  consuls,  in  place  of 
consular  tribunes,  with  an  express  provision  that,  at  least, 
one  of  the  consuls  should  be  of  plebeian  descent. 

The  patricians  having  gained  some  of  the  tribunes  to  their 
party,  prevailed  upon  them  to  dissent  from  their  colleagues, 
and  to  suspend,  by  their  negatives,  all  proceedings  on  the 
subject  of  these  laws.  The  tribunes,  Licinius  and  Sextius, 
in  their  turn,  suspended  the  usual  election  of  magistrates, 
and  put  a  stop  to  all  the  ordinary  affairs  of  state. 

An  anarchy  of  five  years  ensued,  during  which  time  the 
H "public,  bereft  of  all  its  officers,  had  no  magistracy  busidea 
the  tribunes  of  the  people,  who  were  not  legally  vested  with 
auy  degree  of  executive  power. 

»  u.  c.  a-4.  *  u.  c.  3f3. 


&>  111  STORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

lu  the  several  questions,  on  which  the  parties  were  now 
at  variance,  the  patricians  contended  chiefly  for  the  exclu- 
sion of  plebeians  from  the  office  or  title  of  consul ;  and,  as 
an  insuperable  bar  to  their  admission,  still  insisted  on  the 
sacrilegious  profanation  that  would  be  incurred,  by  suffering 
the  rites  usually  performed  by  the  consuls  to  pass  into  plebei- 
an hands.  This  argument,  instead  of  persuading  the  popu- 
lar leaders  to  desist  from  their  claim,  only  made  them  sensi- 
ble that  it  was  necessary  to  remove  this  impediment  by  a 
previous  operation,  before  they  attempted  to  pass  through 
the  way  which  it  was  meant  to  obstruct.  They  appeared 
then  for  a  little  to  drop  their  pursuit  of  the  consulate ;  they 
affected  to  respect  the  claim  of  the  patricians,  to  retain  the 
possessions  of  places  which  had  always  been  assigned  to  their 
order.  But  they  moved,  that  the  number  of  ordinary  atten- 
dants on  the  sacred  rites  should  be  augmented  from  two  to 
ten ;  and  that  of  these  one  half  should  be  named  of  plebe- 
ian extraction. 

While  the  patricians  continued  to  reject  this  proposal,  ou 
account  of  the  effect  it  was  likely  to  have  on  their  preten- 
sions in  general,  they  gave  way  successively  ;  and,  at  the 
interval  of  some  years,  first  to  the  acts  that  were  devised  in 
favour  of  insolvent  debtors  ;  next,  to  the  Agrarian  law,  or 
limitation  of  property  inland;  and  last  of  all,  to  the  new 
establishment  relating  to  the  priesthood,  and  to  the  commu- 
nication of  the  consulate  itself  to  persons  of  plebeian  rank. 

The  authors  of  the  new  regulations,  knowing  that  the 
majority  of  the  centuries  was  composed  of  patricians,  or  was 
still  under  the  influence  of  that  order,  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  mere  privilege  of  being  qualified  to  stand  for  the  consulate. 
They  insisted,  that  at  least  one  of  the  consuls  should  be  a 
plebeian  ;  and  having  prevailed  in  this,  as  in  the  other  con- 
tested points,  the  plebeian  party  entered  immediately  on  the 
possession  of  their  new  privilege,*  and  raised  Publius  Sex- 
•tius,  the  tribune,  who  had  been  so  active  in  the  cause  of  his 
constituents,  to  the  office  of  consul. 

But  while  the  patricians  thus  incurred  a  repeated  diminu- 
tion of  their  exclusive  prerogatives,  they  endeavoured,  by 
separating  the  judicative  from  the  executive  power  of  tlu 
consul,  and  by  committing  the  first  to  a  patrician  officer, 
under  the  title  of  Pretor,  to  save  a  part  from  the  general 
wreck. 

It  was  intended  that  the  pretor  should  be  subordinate, 
but  next  in  rank,  to  the  consul.  He  was  attended  by  two 
lictors,  and  had  his  commission  in  very  general  terms,  to 


C«.  ML] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


Judge  of  all  differences  that  should  be  brought  before  him, 
and  to  hear  the  suits  of  the  people  until  the  setting  of  the 
sun.  One  person  at  first  was  supposed  aide  to  discharge 
all  the  duties  of  this  office ;  but  the  number,  in  order  to  keep 
pace  with  the  growing  multiplicity  of  civil  affairs,  was  after- 
wards gradually  increased. 

Another  political  change,  by  wliich  the  patricians  procured 
some  compensation  for  what  they  had  now  surrendered,  was 
nude  about  the  same  time.  The  care  of  the  public,  shows 
and  entertainments  had  hitherto  belonged  to  the  ediles  of 
the  people.  The  office  of  edile  being  at  its  tirst  institution 
expensive,  was  likely  to  become  gradually  more  so  by  the 
frequent  additions  which  were  made  to  the  festivals,  and  by 
the  growing  demands  of  the  people  for  shows  and  amuse- 
meats.  The  plebeians  complained  of  this  charge  as  «  burdej 
on  their  order,  and  the  opposite  party  offered  to  re.ieve  them 
of  it,  provided  that  two  officers  for  this  purpose,  under  the 
title  of  Curile  Ediles,  should  be  annually  elected  from  among1 
the  patricians. 

Such  is  the  account  wliich  historians  have  given  us  of  the 
origin  and  progress  of  the  Roman  constitution.  Tlus  horde 
in  the  earliest  account  of  it,  presented  a  distinction  of  ranks, 
under  the  titles  of  Patrician,  Equestrian,  and  Plebeian ;  and 
the  state,  though  governed  by  a  prince,  had  occasional  or 
ordinary  assemblies,  by  which  it  approached  to  the  form  of 
a  republic.  Assemblies  to  which  every  citizen  was  admit- 
ted were  termed  the  Comitla :  those  which  were  formed  of 
the  superior  ranks,  or  of  a  select  number,  were  termed  the 
Senate.  Among  those  who  had  attained  the  age  of  man- 
hood, to  be  noble  and  to  be  of  the  senate  were  probably  sy- 
nonymous terms.  But  after  the  introduction  of  the  census, 
separate  rolls  were  kept  for  the  senate,  the  equestrian  order, 
and  the  people.  These  rolls  were  composed  by  different 
officers  in  successive  periods  of  the  state.  A  senate  was 
composed  ot  a  hundred  members  by  Romulus.  This  num. 
ber  was  augmented  or  diminished  at  pleasure  by  his  succes- 
sors. The  consuls  succeeded  in  this  matter  to  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  kings  ;  and  the  censors  were  appointed  to  exer- 
cise itt  with  the  other  duties  of  the  census,  as  a  principal  par 
of  their  functions.  It  is  remarkable,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  great  importance  of  the  senate  in  the  government  ot 
their  country,  so  little  precaution  was  taken  to  ascertain 
who  were  to  be  its  constituent  members,  or  to  fix  their  legal 
puinber.  The  body  was  accordingly  fluctuating.  Indivi- 
duals were  placed  or  displaced  at  the  discretion  of  the  officer 
Intrusted  with  the  muster,  and  the  numbers  of  the  whole 
jicreased  or  diminished  indefinitely.  The  officers  of  state, 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1. 

though  not  enrolled,  had  access  to  the  senate;  but  their 
continuing  members,  after  their  year  in  office  expired, 
depended  on  the  discretion  of  the  censors.  It  seemed  to  be 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  this  constitution,  that  the 
senate  should  be  a  meeting  of  the  superior  class  of  the  citizens. 

As  the  noble  and  popular  assemblies  had  their  existence. 
under  the  kings,  the  transition  from  monarchy  to  republic 
in  so  small  a  state,  by  substituting  elective  and  temporary 
magistrates  in  place  of  the  king,  was  easy.  A  sufficient 
occasion  was  given  to  it  in  the  abuses  which  were  felt  in  the 
last  reign  of  the  monarchy.  The  disorders  incident  to  the 
shock  of  parties,  who  were  set  free  from  a  former  control, 
required  on  occasion,  the  remedy  of  a  discretionary  authori- 
ty vested  in  some  person  who  might  be  intrusted  with  the 
public  safety,  and  soon  led  to  the  occasional  institution  of  a 
dictatorial  power.  The  high  prerogatives  claimed  and  main- 
tained by  one  party,  obliged  the  other  to  assume  a  posture  of 
defence,  and  to  place  themselves  under  the  conduct  of  leaders 
properly  authorized  to  vindicate  their  rights.  These  rights 
were  understood  by  degrees  to  imply  equality,  and,  in  the 
successive  institutions  that  followed,  put  every  citizen  in 
possession  of  equal  pretensions  to  preferment  and  honours ; 
pretensions  which  were  to  be  limited  only  by  the  great  dis- 
tinction which  Nature  has  made  between  the  capacities, 
merits,  and  characters  of  men,  and  which  are  subject,  in 
every  community,  to  be  warped  by  the  effects  of  education 
and  fortune. 

New  departments  of  state,  or  additions  to  the  number  of 
officers  employed  in  them,  were  continually  suggested  by 
the  increase  of  civil  affairs ;  and  while  the  territory  of  the 
Republic  was  but  a  small  part  of  Italy,  the  measure  of  her 
political  government  was  full,  and  the  list  of  her  officers 
complete.  Functions  which,  in  the  first  or  simplest  ages, 
were  either  unknown  or  had  been  committed  to  the  king 
alone,  were  now  thrown  into  separate  lots  or  departments, 
and  furnished  their  several  occupations  to  two  consuls,  one 
praetor,  two  censors,  four  ediles,  and  eight  quaestors,  beside* 
officers  of  these  different  ranks,  who,  with  the  titles  of  pro- 
consul, propraetor,  and  proquaestor,  and  without  any  limita- 
tion of  number,  were  employed  wherever  the  exigencies  of 
the  state  required  their  service. 

in  tliis  account  of  the  Roman  constitution  we  are  come 
nearly  to  that  state  of  its  maturity*  at  which  Polybius  be- 
gan to  observe  and  to  admire  the  felicity  of  its  institutions, 
and  the  order  of  its  administration.  The  plebeians  were 

*  As  it  stood  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  renturir:.  o'  Rcm 


CH.  III.]  HOMAN  REPUBLIC.  36 

now  reconciled  to  a  government  to  which  they  themselves 
had  access,  and  citizens  of  every  rank  made  great  efforts  of 
industry  in  a  state  in  which  men  were  allowed  to  arrive  at 
eminence,  not  only  by  advantages  of  fortune,  but  likewise 
by  personal  qualities.  The  senate  and  assemblies  of  the 
people,  the  magistrates  and  select  commissioners,  had  each 
their  departments*  which  they  administered  with  an  appear- 
ance of  sovereign  and  absolute  sway,  and  without  any  inter- 
fering of  interests  or  jealousy  of  power. 

The  consuls  were  destined  to  the  command  of  armies; 
but,  while  at  Rome,  seemed  to  have  the  liighest  prerogative* 
in  the  administration  of  all  civil  and  political  affairs.  They 
had  under  their  command  all  the  other  officers  of  state,  ex- 
cept the  tribunes  of  the  people ;  they  introduced  all  foreign 
ambassadors;  and  they  alone  could  move  the  senate  on  any 
subject  of  deliberation,  and  put  their  acts  or  determinations 
in  writing.  The  consuls,  too,  preside  1  with  a  similar  pre- 
rogative in  the  assembly  of  the  centuries  and  in  that  of  the 
curiae,  proposed  the  question,  collects  I  the  votes,  declared 
the  majority,  and  framed  the  act.  lu  all  military  prepar- 
ations, in  making  their  levies  as  well  as  in  the  command 
of  the  army,  they  were  vested  with  high  degrees  of  discre 
Uonary  power  over  all  the  troops  of  the  commonwealth, 
composed  of  Roman  citizens  or  allies.  They  commanded 
the  treasury,  as  far  as  necessary  to  the  service  on  which 
they  were  employed,  and  had  one  of  its  commissioners,  or 
quaestors,  appointed  to  attend  their  court,  and  to  receive 
their  orders. 

The  senate,  however,  had  the  ordinary  administration  of 
the  revenue,  took  account  of  its  receipts  and  disbursements, 
and  suffered  no  money  to  be  issued  without  their  own  de- 
cree, or  the  warrant  of  the  consul  in  actual  service.  Even 
the  money  decreed  by  the  censors  for  the  repair  of  public 
buildings,  and  the  execution  of  public  works,  could  not  be 
issued  by  the  quaestors  without  an  act  of  the  senate  to  author- 
ize it.  All  crimes  and  disorders  that  were  committed  among 
the  free  inhabitants  of  Italy,  or  municipal  allies  of  the  state* 
all  disputes  of  a  private  or  public  nature  that  arose  among 
them,  came  under  the  jurisdiction  and  determination  of  the 
senate.  All  foreign  embassies  were  received  or  despatched, 
and  all  negotiations  were  conducted,  by  this  body.  In  such 
matters  the  people  did  no  more  than  aliirm  or  reverse  what 
the  senate,  after  mature  deliberation,  had  decreed,  and  lor 
the  most  part  gave  their  consent  as  a  matter  of  form ;  inso- 
much, that  while  persons,  who  observed  the  high  executive 
powers  of  the  consul,  considered  the  state  as  monarchical ; 
foreigners,  on  the  contrary,  who  resorted  on  public  business 


36  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.I. 

to  Rome,  were  apt  to  believe  it  an  aristocracy  vested  in  th* 
senate. 

The  people,  notwithstanding1,  had  reserved  the  sovereign- 
ty to  themselves,  and,  in  their  several  assemblies,  exercised 
the  powers  of  legislation,  and  conferred  all  the  offices  of 
state.  They  likewise,  in  all  criminal  matters,  held  the 
supreme  jurisdiction.  In  their  capacity  of  sovereign,  they 
were  the  sole  arbiters  of  life  and  death ;  and,  even  in  their  ca- 
pacity of  subjects,  did  not  submit  to  restraints  which,  in  every 
other  state,  are  found  necessary  to  government. 

A  citizen,  while  accused  of  any  crime,  continued  at  liberty 
until  sentence  was  given  against  him,  and  might  withdraw 
from  his  prosecutors  at  any  stage  of  the  trial,  even  while  the 
last  century  was  delivering  its  votes.  A  voluntary  banish- 
ment from  the  forum,  from  the  meetings  of  the  senate,  and  the 
assemblies  of  the  people,  was  the  liighest  punishment,  which 
any  citi/en,  unless  he  remained  to  expose  liimself  to  the 
effects  of  a  formal  sentence,  was  obliged  to  undergo ;  and  it 
was  expressly  stipulated,  that,  even  at  Tibur  or  Pneneste, 
a  few  miles  from  Rome,  a  convict  who  had  withdrawn  from 
judgment  should  be  safe. 

Parts  so  detached  were  not  likely  to  act  as  one  body,  nor 
to  proceed  with  any  regular  concert;  and  the  state  seems 
to  have  carried,  in  all  its  establishments,  the  seeds  of  dissen- 
sion and  tumult.  The  several  members  of  the  constitution, 
while  in  appearance  supreme,  were  in  many  respects  depen- 
dent on  each  other. 

The  consuls,  while  in  office,  had  the  meetings  and  deter- 
minations of  the  senate,  and  people,  in  a  great  measure,  in 
their  power;  but  they  received  this  power  from  the  people, 
and  were  accountable  for  the  discharge  of  it  at  the  expiration 
of  their  office. 

The  senate  could  resolve,  but  they  could  not  execute,  until 
they  had  obtained  from  the  people  a  confirmation  of  their  acts, 
and  were  obliged  to  solicit  the  tribunes  for  leave  to  proceed 
in  any  matter  which  these  officers  were  inclined  to  oppose. 

The  senate  was  constituted,  or  formed,  at  regular  periods, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  consuls  or  censors,  officers  named  by 
the  people. 

The  city,  nevertheless,  was  over-awed  by  the  senate  and 
officers  of  state.  On  great  and  alarming  occasions,  the  people 
themselves  were  no  longer  sovereigns  than  they  were 
allowed  by  the  senate  and  consuls  to  hold  this  chararter. 
The  senate  and  consuls  having  it  in  their  power  to  name 
a  dictator,  could  at  once  transfer  the  sovereignty  of  the 
state  to  a  single  person,  and  subject  every  citi/en  to  his 
authority.  Every  individual  held  his  place  on  the  rolls  at 


CH.  III.)*  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  37 

the  will  of  tne  censors,  and  his  property  at  the  disposal  of 
courts  that  were  composed  of  senators;  the  servants  of  the 
public  in  general,  who  aimed  sit  lucrative  commission-, 
depended  on  the  senate,  as  administrators  of  the  treasury, 
and  trustees  in  the  collection  or  disbursements  of  the  public 
money;  and  every  Roman  youth,  when  imbodied  in  tin* 
legions,  Intrusted  his  honours  and  liis  life  in  the  hands  of  the 
consul,  or  commander  in  chief. 

The  mass,  however,  was  far  from  being  so  well  com- 
pacted, or  the  unity  of  power  so  well  established,  as  specu- 
lative reasouers  sometimes  tliink  necessary  for  the  order  of 
government.  The  senate  and  the  popular  assemblies,  in 
their  legislative  capacities,  counteracted  one  another.  The 
numbers  required  to  constitute  a  legal  assembly  of  the 
people,  the  qualification  of  a  citizen,  which  entitled  him  to 
be  considered  as  a  member  of  the  commonwealth,  were  still 
undetermined.  Aliens  settling  at  Rome  were  admitted  on 
the  rolls  of  the  people,  and  citizens  removing  to  the  colonies 
were  omitted. 

In  about  one  hundred  years  after  they  began  to  restore 
their  city  from  the  ruins  in  which  it  was  laid  by  the  Gauls,* 
they  extended  their  sovereignty  from  the  farthest  limits  of 
Tuscany  on  the  one  side,  to  the  sea  of  Tarentum  and  the 
straits  of  Messina  on  the  other ;  and  as  the  contest  of  parties 
at  home  led  to  a  succession  of  political  establishments,  their 
frequent  wars  suggested  the  policy  which  they  adopted 
respecting  foreign  nations,  and  the  arrangement  of  their 
national  force. 

They  had  for  some  time  discontinued  the  practice  of  ad- 
mitting captives  into  the  number  of  their  people;  but  con- 
tinued that  of  extending  and  securing  their  acquisitions,  by 
colonies  of  their  own  citizens,  or  of  such  allies  as  they  could 
most  securely  trust.  They  exacted  from  the  cantons  of 
Italy  which  they  vanquished,  contributions  of  subsistence 
and  clotliing  for  the  benefit  of  their  armies;  and  they 
generally  imposed  some  condition  of  this  sort  as  a  prelimi- 
nary to  every  negotiation  or  treaty  of  peace. 

Their  forces  consisted  of  native  Romans,  and  of  their 
allies  in  Italy,  nearly  in  equal  parts,  f  The  legion,  says 
Livy,  had  been  formerly  arrayed  in  a  continued  line,  or 
compacted  coiumn;  but  in  the  course  of  the  wars  which  led 
to  the  conquest  of  Italy,  came  to  be  formed  in  divisions,  and 
had  different  orders  of  light  and  heavy-armed  infantry,  svs 
well  as  cavalry.  The  light-armed  infantry  were  called  the 
Velites,  and  were  supposed  to  ply  in  the  front,  on  the  tiauk, 

*  U.  C.  403.  *  U. 


38  HISTORY  OF  THK  IB.  i. 

or  in  th<?  rear  of  the  army;  and  their  service  was.  to  keep 
the  heavy-armed  foot  undisturbed  by  missiles  till  tneycame 
into  close  action  with  the  enemy. 

The  heavy-armed  foot  consisted  of  three  orders,  called  tht» 
Hastati,  Principes,  and  Triarii ;  of  whom  each  had  its  sepa- 
rate divisions  or  manipules ;  and  those  of  the  different  orders 
were  placed  in  three  different  rows,  and  at  distances  from 
each  other,  equal  to  the  front  of  the  division.  By  tliis  dis- 
position the  manipules  of  the  first  and  second  row  could 
either  act  separately,  or,  by  mutually  filling-  up  their  inter- 
vals, could  complete  the  line,  leaving  the  Triarii,  in  time  of 
action,  as  a  body  of  reserve,  to  support  the  line,  or  fill  up 
the  place  of  any  manipule  that  might  be  forced  by  the 
memy.  And,  in  order  to  facilitate  occasionally  this  change 
•f. disposition,  the  divisions  of  one  row  faced  the  intervals  of 
he  other.*  They  Avere  armed  with  the  pilum,  which  was 
.  heavy  javelin  or  spear  to  be  cast  at  the  enemy,  and  vith  a 
hort  and  massy  sword  fitted  to  strike  or  to  thrust.  They 

*  This  account  of  the  Roman  legion  is  not  without  its  difficulties.  It 
appears  irrational  to  break  and  disperse  the  strength  of  a  body  in  this 
manner,  and  C*sar  makes  no  mention  of  any  such  distinction  of  orders, 
of  the  manipules,  of  the  rows  in  which  they  were  formed,  or  of  the 
intervals  at  which  they  fought.  His  legion  consisted  of  ten  cohorts, 
formed  from  right  to  left  on  acontinued  front.  Polybius,  however,  one 
of  the  best  military  historians,  and  himself  an  eye-witness  of  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  Roman  legion  in  action,  as  well  as  on  the  parade,  is  very 
explicit  in  his  account  of  it ;  refers  to  it  in  the  description  of  the  Roman 
march  (Polyb.  lib.  vi.  c.  38.),  in  the  description  of  every  battle  (Polyb. 
lib.  iii.  c.  1,  2,  3,  4.),  and  (Polyb.  lib.  xv.  c.  10.)  in  slating  the  compar- 
ative advantages  of  the  Roman  legion  and  Macedonian  phalanx 
(Polyb  lib.  xvii.  c.  28).  The  phalanx  being  a  column  of  indefinite 
depth,  close  ranks,  and  a  continued  front,  with  lances  or  spears,  it  was 
impregnable  to  the  short  sword  and  loose  order  of  the  Romans,  so  long 
as  it  preserved  its  front  entire,  and  the  spear-man  made  no  opening  for 
the  Roman  soldier  to  enter  within  the  point  of  his  weapon. 

It  is  observed  that  the  Romans  made  their  attack  in  separate  divisions 
and  at  intervals,  in  orler  to  bring  on  some  irregularity  in  the  front  of 
the  phalanx,  and  in  order  to  make  some  openings  by  which  the  Roman 
soldier  could  enter  with  his  sword,  and  once  within  the  point  of  his 
enemy's  spear,  could  perform  great  slaughter  with  little  resistance 
(Plutarch  in  vit.  P.  Emilii.  Liv.  lib.  »Hv.  c.  41.  Neque  ullaevidentior 
causa  victorias  fuit  quam  quod  multa  passim  pnr.lia  erant  quae  fluctu- 
antes  turbarant  primo,  deinde  disjecerunt  phalanges).  From  this  ac- 
count then  it  is  probable,  that  the  Romans  did  not  divide  their  lejjion 
into  orders  and  manipules,  nor  fight  at  intervals,  until  after  they  adopted 
the  short  stabbing  sword,  which  is  said  to  have  been  originally  from 
Spain  4  and  that  they  continued  to  make  this  disposition  so  long  only 
as  they  had  to  do  with  enemies  who  used  the  spear  and  continued 
front ;  that  after  the  social  war  in  Italy,  and  their  own  civil  wars  began, 
they  discontinued  the  separate  manipules,  and  sought  to  strengthen 
themselves  against  an  army  like  their  own,  by  presenting  a  continued 
front.  Livy  accordingly  marks  the  time  at  which  the  formation  of 
manipules,  at  intervals,  was  adopted.  Polybius  marks  the  continuance 
01  it,  and  Caesar  evidently  marks  the  discontinuance  of  it.  It  is 
Mtremely  probable,  that  the  last  change  was  one  of  those  made  bf  Ma- 
/kt*.  and  wa  introduced  into  the  Roman  armies  in  the  social  war. 


Cn.  III.]  ROM4N  RF.JMJBl  M;.  39 

bore  an  oblong  .shield,  four  feet  high  by  two  and  a  half  feet 
broad,  with  a  helmet,  breastplate,  and  greaves. 

It  is  understood  in  the  antiquities  of  tliis  people,  tliat 
when  they  were  assembled  for  any  purpose,  whether  of  state 
or  of  war,  they  were  termed  the  Army.  In  their  muster? 
a  plebeian  was  a  foot  soldier,  the  knight  a  horseman,  and 
the  legion  a  mere  detachment  of  the  whole,  draughted  for 
the  year,  or  imbodied  for  a  particular  service.  The  men, 
as  well  as  the  officers,  in  the  first  period  of  the  history  of  the 
Republic,  were  annually  relieved  or  exchanged ;  and  even 
after  it  ceased  to  be  the  practice  thus  annually  to  relieve  the 
private  men,  and  after  the  same  legions  were  employed 
during  a  succession  of  some  years,  yet  the  people,  to  the 
latest  period  of  the  commonwealth,  continued  to  form  the 
armies  of  their  country ;  and  the  officer  of  state  was  still 
understood  to  command  in  virtue  of  his  civil  magistracy,  or 
in  virtue  of  a  military  qualification  which  never  failed  to 
accompany  it.  No  citizen  could  aspire  to  any  of  the  higher 
offices,  m  the  commonwealth,  until  he  had  been  enrolled  in 
the  legions,  either  ten  years  if  on  horseback,  or  sixteen 
years  if  on  foot;  and,  notwithstanding  the  special  commis- 
sions that  were  occasionally  given  for  separate  objects  of 
state  or  of  war,  civil  and  military  rank  were  never  disjoined. 
Equal  care  was  taken  to  furnish  the  rising  statesman  and 
warrior  with  the  technical  habits  of  either  profession ;  or 
rather  to  instruct  him,  by  liis  occasional  application  to  both, 
not  to  mistake  the  forms  of  office  in  either  for  the  business 
of  state  or  of  war,  nor  to  rest  his  pretensions  to  command 
-  on  any  accomplishment  short  of  that  superior  knowledge  of 
mankind,  and  those  excellent  personal  qualities  of  penetra- 
tion, sagacity,  and  courage,  which  give  the  person  posses- 
sed of  them  an  ascendant,  as  a  friend  or  as  an  enemy,  in 
any  scene  or  department  of  human  aflairs. 

During  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
after  the  rebuilding  of  Rome,  the  Romans  were  engaged  in 
a  continual  series  of  wars ;  first  with  the  Latins  and  with 
their  own  colonies,  who  wished  to  disengage  themselves 
from  so  unequal*  an  alliance ;  and  afterwards  with  the 
Etruscans  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  Samnites,  Cam- 
panians, and  Tarentines  on  the  other.  They  quarrelled 
with  the  Samnites  first  in  behalf  of  tho  Campanians,  who, 
in  order  to  obtain  their  protection,  made  a  surrender  of 
themselves  and  of  all  their  possessions.  This  act  of  sur- 
render they  afterwards  had  occasion  to  enforce  against  the 
Campanians  themselves,  who  endeavoured,  when  too  late, 
to  recover  their  liberties. 

Tho  Samnites  were  a  fierce  nation,  inhabiting  that  tract 


40  IHSTORf  OF  THE  [B.  I 

of  the  Apennines  wliich  extends  from  the  confines  of  La- 
tium  to  those  of  Apulia;  and  who,  to  the  advantages  of 
their  mountainous  situation,  joined  some  singular  and  even 
romantic  institutions,  which  enabled  them,  during-  above 
forty  years,  from  the  time  at  which  their  wars  with  the 
Romans  began,  to  maintain  the  contest,  and  to  keep  the 
balance  of  power  in  suspense. 

During  the  dependence  of  this  quarrel,  the  Roman  armies 
frequently  penetrated  into  Lucania  and  Apulia,  and  before 
they  had  reduced  the  Sarnnites,  were  known  as  protectors 
;md  allies,  or  had  forced  their  passage  as  conquerors  to  the 
southern  extremities  of  Italy.  And  the  state  itself,  under 
a  variety  of  titles,  was  in  reality  the  head,  or  held  a  species 
of  sovereignty  over  all  the  nations  who  occupied  that  part 
of  the  peninsula. 

The  city  of  Tarentum,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Greek 
settlements  in  this  quarter,  having  neglected  her  military 
establishments  in  proportion  as  she  advanced  in  the  arts  oi 
peace,  was  alarmed  at  the  near  approach  of  the  Romans, 
and  applied  for  protection  to  Pyrrhus  the  king  of  Epirus, 
at  that  time  greatly  distinguished  among  the  military  ad- 
venturers of  Macedonia  and  Greece.*  They  wished  to 
employ  the  military  skill  of  this  prince,  without  being 
exposed  to  fall  a  prey  to  his  ambition ;  and  invited  him  to 
come,  without  any  army  of  his  own,  to  take  the  command 
of  their  people,  whose  numbers  they  magnified,  in  order 
to  induce  him  to  accept  of  their  offer.  But,  like  most 
foreign  military  protectors,  he  appears  to  have  had,  together 
with  many  schemes  of  ambition  against  those  on  whom  he 
made  war,  some  designs  likewise  on  the  state  he  was 
brought  to  defend.  With  this  double  intention  he  did  not 
rely  on  the  forces  of  Tarentum,  but  passed  into  Italy  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  army,  formed  on  the  model  of  the 
Macedonians,  and  accustomed  to  service  in  the  wars  of  that 
country  and  of  Greece. 

He  prevailed  over  the  Romans  in  some  of  their  first  en- 
counters ;  but  found  that  partial  victories  did  not  subdue 
this  people,  nor  decide  the  contest.  Having  vast  schemes 
of  ambition  in  Sicily  and  Africa,  as  well  in  Italy,  he  sud- 
denly suspended  his  operations  against  the  Romans,  to 
comply  with  an  invitation  he  received  from  Syracuse,  to 
possess  himself  of  that  kingdom  in  behalf  of  his  son,  who 
had  some  pretensions  to  it  in  the  right  of  Agathocles,  from 
whom  he  was  descended. 

In  order  to  pursue  this  object,  he  endeavoured  to  abtaua 

•  V.  C,  47JU 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  41 

a  peace  or  '-elation  of  arms  in  Italy  ;  but  was  told,  that,  in 
order  to  'uoat  with  the  Romans,  he  must  evacuate  their 
country  and  return  to  Ms  own.  With  tliis  answer  he  passed 
into  Sicily ;  and  after  some  operations  which  were  success- 
ful,  though  not  sufficiently  supported  by  his  partisans  in 
that  country  to  obtain  the  end  of  his  expedition,  he  returned 
again  into  Italy  for  the  defence  of  Tarentum ;  but  found 
that  during  his  absence  the  Romans  had  made  a  consider- 
able progress,  and  were  in  condition  to  repay  the  defeats  they 
had  suffered  in  the  beginning-  of  the  war.  Having  brought 
this  matter  to  the  proof  in  several  encounters,  he  committed 
the  defence  of  Tarentum  to  one  of  his  officers ;  and  after 
this  fruitless  attempt  to  make  conquests  beyond  the  Ionian 
sea,  in  which  he  had  employed  six  years,  he  returned  to  hi.? 
own  country. 

The  Romans  continuing  the  Avar  against  Tarentum,  in 
about  two  years  after  the  departure  of  Pyrrhus  from  Italy, 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  place.*  Here,  it  is  men- 
tioned, they  found,  for  the  first  time,  the  plunder  of  an 
opulent  city,  containing  the  models  of  elegant  workman- 
ship in  the  fine  arts,  and  the  apparatus  of  an  exquisite 
luxury. 

From  the  reduction  of  Tarentum  the  Romans  may  be 
considered  as  the  sovereigns  of  Italy,  although  their  domin- 
ion was  extremely  ill  defined,  either  in  respect  to  its  nature 
or  to  its  extent.t  They  but  in  a  few  instances  laid  claim  to 
absolute  sovereignty,  and  least  of  all  over  those  who  were 
most  submissive  to  their  power.  It  was  their  maxim  to 
spare  the  obsequious,  but  to  crush  the  proud;  an  artful 
profession,  by  which,  under  the  pretensions  of  generosity 
and  magnanimity,  they  stated  themselves  as  the  sovereign 
nation.  Under  this  presumptuous  maxim  their  friendship 
was  to  bo  obtained  by  submission  alone ;  and  was,  no  less 
than  their  er.mity,  fatal  to  those  who  embraced  it.  The 
title  of  ally  was,  for  the  most  part,  no  more  than  a  specious 
name,  under  which  they  disguised  their  dominion,  and 
by  which  they  availed  themselves  of  the  strength  and 
resources  of  other  nations,  with  the  least  possible  alarm  to 
Iheir  jealousy  or  pride. 

With  the  Latins  they  had  early  formed  an  alliance  otten- 
give  and  defensive,  in  which  the  parties  mutually  stipulated 
the  number  of  troops  to  be  f urnished  by  each ;  the  respec- 
tive shares  which  each  was  to  have  in  the  spoils  of  their 
common  enemies,  and  the  manner  of  adjusting  any  dispute* 
'.kit  might  arise  between  them.  Tins  was  the  league 

*  II.  C-  4*1  *  1'-  C.  481. 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I, 

which  the  Latins  were  supposed  to  have  so  frequently 
broken,  and  of 'which  the  Romans  so  often  exacted  the  ob- 
servance by  force. 

In  the  first  struggles  which  they  made  to  restore  their 
settlement  destroyed  by  the  Gauls,  and  in  the  subsequent 
wars  they  had  to  maintain,  during  a  hundred  years,  in  sup- 
port of  their  new  establishment,  different  cantons  of  these 
original  confederates,  as  well  as  many  of  their  own  colo- 
nies, had  taken  very  different  parts,  and  in  the  treaties 
which  ensued,  obtained,  or  were  sentenced  to,  different 
conditions ;  some  were  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  Rome, 
and  partook  in  the  prerogative  of  Roman  citizens.  A  few 
were,  by  their  own  choice,  in  preference  to  the  character  of 
Roman  citizens,  permitted  to  retain  the  independency  of 
their  towns,  and  were  treated  as  allies.  Others,  under  pre- 
tence of  being  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  Rome,  though 
without  the  right  of  suffrage,  were  deprived  of  their  cor- 
poration establishments,  and  with  the  title  of  citizens, 
treated  as  subjects.  A  few  were  governed  in  form  by  n 
military  power,  and  by  a  prefect  or  magistrate  annually 
sent  from  Rome. 


CHAP.  IV. 

Limit*  of  Italy— Contiguous  Nations—  Liguriant—Gault—  Greek  and 
Phoenician  Colonies  of  Gaul  and  Spain— Nations  of  lllyricum—  Of 
Greece— Achcean  League— Thebans — Athenians  —  Asiatic  Nations — 
Pergamus—  Syria—  Egypt—  Carthage—  The  Mamertines  of  Messina- 
Occasion  of  the  first  War  with  Carthage— Losses  of  the  Parties— Peace- 
State  of  the  Romans— Political  or  Civil  Institutions— Colonies— Musters 
—Operations  on  the  Coin— Different  Results  of  the  War  at  Rome  and 
Carthage— Mutiny  and  Invasion  of  the  Mercenaries  at  Carthage— End 
of  this  War— Cession  of  Sardinia— War  with  the  Illyrians— First  Cor- 
respondence of  Rome  with  Greece. 

As  the  Romans,  at  the  time  to  which  our  last  observations 
refer,  were  become  the  sovereigns  of  Italy,  or,  by  their 
ascendant  in  so  powerful  a  country,  were  enabled  to  act  a 
distinguished  part  among  the  nations  around  it ;  it  is  pro- 
per in  this  place  to  carry  our  observations  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  that  Peninsula,  and  enumerate  the  powers 
that  were  then  established  on  different  sides  of  it,  or  beyond 
the  narrow  seas  by  which  it  was  surrounded.* 
Italy  was  not  then  supposed  to  comprehend  the  whole  oi 


CH.  IV. J  1U>M/.X  REPUBLIC.  49 

that  tract  which  h:u  in  later  times  been  known  under  thi» 
name.  Uc'ia^  houiuk?  1,  as  at  present,  on  the  south  and  east 
by  the  seas  of  Sicily  and  bay  of  Tarentum,  it  extended  no 
further  to  the  north-west  than  to  the  Arnus  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  the  Rubicon  on  the  other.  Beyond  these 
limits  the  western  coasts  were  inhabited  by  a  number  of 
tribes,  which,  under  the  name  of  Ligurians,  occupied  the 
descents  of  the  Apennines  and  the  south  of  the  Alps  quite 
to  the  sea-shore.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Apennines, 
from  Senegallia.  to  the  Alps,  the  rich  and  extensive  plains 
on  both  sides  of  the  Po  were  in  the  possession  of  Gaul- 
ish nations,  who  were  said,  some  centuries  before,  to 
have  passed  the  mountains,  and  who  were  then  actually 
spread  over  a  fertile  tract  of  more  than  twelve  hundred 
miles  in  circumference.  They  consisted  of  nine  different 
hordes,  that  were  supposed  to  have  passed  the  Alps  at  dif- 
ferent times.  Of  these  the  Laulebecii,  Insubres,  Ceiiomani, 
and  Veneti  occupied  the  northern  banks  of  the  Po,  includ- 
ing what  are  now  the  states  of  Milan,  Venice,  and  other 
parts  of  Lombardy  on  that  side  of  the  river.  The  Anianes, 
Boii,  JEgones,  and  Senones,  were  settled  to  the  southward, 
from  the  Po  to  the  descents  of  the  Apennines,  and  on  the 
coasts  of  the  Hadriatic  to  Senegallia,  over  what  are  now 
the  states  of  Parma,  Modena,  Bologna,  and  Urbino.  In  this 
favourable  situation  they  appear  to  have  abated  much  of 
their  native  ferocity,  though  without  acquiring,  in  any  con- 
siderable degree,  the  arts  that  improve  the  conveniences  of 
life.  They  fed  chiefly  on  the  milk  or  the  flesh  of  their  cattle, 
and  were  occupied  entirely  in  the  care  of  their  arms  and  of 
their  herds.  By  these,  and  the  ornaments  of  gold,  of  which 
they  were  extremely  fond,  they  estimated  their  riches. 
They  were  divided  into  tribes  or  cantons,  and  lived  in  cot- 
tages huddled  together,  without  any  form  of  towns  or 
of  villages.  The  leader  of  every  horde  was  distinguished 
by  his  retinue,  and  valued  himself  chiefly  on  the  number  of 
his  followers.  They  had  made  frequent  encroachments  on 
the  states  of  Etruria  and  Umbria,  but  were  met  at  last,  and 
stopped  in  their  progress,  by  the  Romans.  Such  of  them  as 
were  settled  within  the  Rubicon,  and  from  thence  to  Sene- 
gallia,  had,  about  three  years  before  the  arrival  of  Pyrrhua 
in  Italy,  been  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  state. 

The  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  to  the  westward  of 
Italy,  had  been  known  to  the  nations  of  Greece  and  of  Asia, 
tnd  had  received  many  colonies  from  thence,  which  formed 
trading  settlements,  and  remained  altogether  distinct  from 
the  natives.  Such  were  the  Greek  colonies  at  Marseilles, 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

Emporiae,  Saguntum,  and  the  Tyrian  colony  at  Gades  on 
the  coast  of  the  ocean.  On  the  other  side  of  Italy,  and 
round  the  Hadriatic,  were  settled  a  number  of  small  na- 
tions, the  Istrians,  Dalmatians,  and  Illyrians ;  of  which,  at 
the  time  when  the  Romans  became  acquainted  with  the 
navigation  of  this  gulf,  the  Illyrians,  being  the  chief  or 
principal  power,  extended  eastward  to  the  confines  of  Ma- 
cedonia. 

Alexander  the  Great  had  finished  the  career  of  his  victo- 
ries about  sixty  years  before  this  date.*  His  hereditary 
dominions,  as  well  as  his  personal  conquests,  were  dismem- 
bered, and  become  the  patrimony  of  officers,  who  had 
learned  under  him  to  affect  the  majesty  and  the  power  ot 
kings.  Macedonia  was  governed  by  Antigonus  Doson, 
who,  together  with  the  principality  of  Pella,  held  under  his 
dependence  Epirus,  Thessaly,  and  Greece,  to  the  isthmus  of 
Corinth.  He  had  contended  with  Pyrrhus,  the  late  invader 
of  Italy,  for  part  of  this  territory ;  and,  by  the  death  of  this 
adventurer,  was  now  in  possession  of  the  whole. 

On  one  part  of  the  coast  of  the  Ionian  sea,  and  on  the 
Gulf  of  Corinth,  were  settled  the  Etolians,  who,  during  the 
prosperity  of  Greece,  had  been  an  obscure  and  barbarous 
horde ;  but  had  now,  by  the  confederacy  of  a  number  of 
cantons,  laid  many  districts  around  them  under  contribution, 
and  acted  a  distinguished  part  in  the  Avars  and  transactions 
that  followed. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  a  similar  con- 
federacy was  formed  by  the  Achaean  league.  The  name  of 
Achaea,  in  the  fabulous  ages,  was  the  most  general  denomi- 
nation of  Greeks.  When  other  names,  of  Dorians  and  loni- 
ans,  of  Athenians  and  Spartans,  became  more  distinguished, 
the  name  of  Achseans  was  appropriated  to  the  tribes  who 
occupied  the  sea  coast,  or  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  from  Elis  to 
Sicyon.  On  this  tract  twelve  little  cantons,  Dymae,  Pharae, 
Tritaea,  Rhipes,  Thasium,  Patrae,  Pellene,  JEgium,  Bura, 
Carynia,  Olenos,  and  Hellice,  having  changed  their  govern- 
ment from  principalities  to  republics,  formed  themselves 
into  a  league  for  their  common  defence.  Hellice  had  been, 
from  time  immemorial,  the  seat  of  their  assembly;  but  this 
place  having  been  overwhelmed  by  an  inundation  of  the 
sea,  their  meetings  were  transferred  to  JEgium. 

In  the  more  famous  times  of  Sparta,  Athens,  and  Thebes, 
these  little  cantons  were  of  no  consideration  in  the  history 
of  Greece.  They  began  to  fxppear  in  support  of  the  liberties 
of  Greece  against  Philip  the  father  of  Alexander,  and  par- 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  44 

took  with  the  other  Greeks  in  the  defeat  which  they  re- 
ceived from  that  prince  at  Chreronea,  and  in  all  its  const** 
quences.  Their  league  was  accordingly  dissolved  by  the 
conqueror,  and  some  of  their  cantons  separately  annexed  to 
the  Macedonian  monarchy.  But  about  the  time  that  Pyr- 
rhus  invaded  Italy,  Dym;c,  Patne,  Pharae,  and  Tritaea,  found 
an  opportunity  to  renew  their  ancient  confederacy.  They 
were  joined  in  about  five  years  afterwards  by  the  canton  of 
/Egium,  and  successively  by  those  of  Bura  and  Carynia. 
These,  during  a  period  of  about  twenty  years,  continued  to 
be  the  only  parties  in  this  famous  league.  They  had  a 
general  congress,  at  which  they  originally  elected  two 
annual  officers  of  state,  and  a  common  secretary.  They 
afterwards  committed  the  executive  power  to  one  officer; 
and  under  the  famous  Aratus  of  Sicyon,  united  that  repub- 
lic, together  with  Corinth  and  Megara,  to  their  league. 

About  the  time  when  the  Romans  became  masters  of 
Farentum,  this  combination  was  become  the  most  consid- 
erable power  of  the  Peloponnesus,  and  aftected  to  unite  the 
fvhole  of  it  under  their  banners ;  but  Sparta,  though  greatly 
tallen  from  the  splendour  of  her  ancient  discipline  and 
power,  was  still  too  proud,  or  too  much  under  the  direction 
jf  her  ambitious  leaders,  to  suiter  herself  to  be  absorbed  in 
this  upstart  confederacy :  she  continued  for  some  time  its 
rival,  and  was  at  last  the  cause,  or  furnished  the  occasion, 
of  its  fall. 

The  Thebans  and  Athenians,  though  still  pretending  to 
the  dignity  of  independent  nations,  were  greatly  reduced, 
and  ready  to  become  the  prey  of  any  party  that  was  suffi- 
ciently powerful,  to  reach  them,  by  breaking  through  the 
other  barriers  that  were  still  opposed  to  the  conquest  of 
Greece. 

In  Asia,  a  considerable  principality  was  formed  round  the 
city  of  Pergamus,  and  bore  its  name.  Syria  was  become  a 
mighty  kingdom,  extending  from  the  coasts  of  Ionia  to 
Armenia  and  Persia.  This  kingdom  had  been  formed  by 
Seleucus  Nicanor,  a  principal  officer  in  the  army  of  Alex- 
ander, and  it  was  now  in  the  possession  of  his  son,  Antio- 
chus  Soter. 

Hgypt,  in  the  same  manner,  had  passed  from  the  first 
Ptolemy  to  his  son  Philadelphia,  who,  upon  the  expulsion 
of  Pyrrhus  from  Italy,  had  entered  into  a  correspondence 
with  the  Romans.  This  kingdom  included  the  island  of 
Cyprus ;  and,  having  some  provinces  on  the  continent  of 
Asia,  extended  from  Ccelo-  Syria,  of  which  the  dominion 
was  still  in  contest  with  Antiochus,  to  the  deserts  of  Lybia 
on  the  west  and  on  the  south,  lley  >nd  these  deserts,  and 
1'' 


48  HISTORY  O*  THK  IB.  1. 

almost  opposite  to  the  island  of  Sicily,  lay  the  famous  re- 
public of  Carthage,  which  was  now  possessed  of  a  consider- 
able territory,  surrounded  by  the  petty  African  monarchies, 
out  of  which  the  great  kingdom  of  Numidia  was  afterwards 
formed. 

The  city  of  Carthage  is  said  to  have  been  founded  about 
a  hundred  years  earlier  than  Rome,  and  was  now  unques- 
tionably farther  advanced  in  the  commercial  and  lucrative 
arts,  and  superior  in  every  resource  to  Rome,  besides  that 
which  is  derived  from  the  national  character,  and  which  is 
the  consequence  of  public  virtue. 

In  respect  to  mere  form,  the  constitution  of  both  nations 
was  nearly  alike.  They  had  a  senate  and  popular  assemblies, 
and  annually  elected  two  officers  of  state  for  the  supreme 
direction  of  their  civil  and  military  affairs;  and  even  at 
Carthage  the  departments  of  state  were  so  fortunately 
balanced,  as  to  have  stood  for  ages  the  shock  of  corrupt 
factions,  without  having  suffered  any  fatal  revolution,  or 
without  falling  into  either  extreme  of  anarchy  or  tyranni- 
cal usurpation. 

The  Carthaginians  being,  like  Tyre,  of  which  they  were 
supposed  to  be  a  colony,  settled  on  a  peninsula,  and  at  first 
without  sufficient  land  or  territory  to  maintain  any  consid- 
erable numbers  of  people,  they  applied  themselves  to  such 
arts  as  might  procure  a  subsistence  from  abroad ;  and  be- 
came, upon  the  destruction  of  Tyre,  the  principal  mer- 
chants and  carriers  to  all  the  nations  inhabiting  the  coasts 
of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  Their  situation,  so  convenient 
for  shipping,  was  extremely  favourable  to  this  pursuit;  and 
their  success  in  it  soon  put  them  in  possession  of  a  territory 
by  which  they  became  a  landed  as  well  as  a  naval  power. 
They  visited  Spain,  under  pretence  of  giving  support  and 
assistance  to  the  city  of  Gades,  which,  like  themselves,  was 
a  colony  from  Tyre.  They  became  masters  of  Sardinia, 
and  had  considerable  possessions  in  Sicily,  of  which  they 
were  extremely  desirous  to  seize  the  whole.  From  every 
part  of  their  acquisitions  they  endeavoured  to  derive  the 
profit  of  merchants,  as  well  as  the  revenue  of  sovereigns. 

In  tlus  republic,  individuals  had  amassed  great  fortunes, 
and  estimated  rank  by  their  wealth.  A  certain  estate  was 
requisite  to  qualify  any  citizen  for  the  higher  offices  of  state ; 
and,  in  the  canvass  for  elections,  every  preferment,  whether 
civil  or  military,  was  venal.  Ambition  itself,  therefore, 
became  a  principle  of  avarice,  and  every  Carthaginian,  in 
order  to  be  great,  was  intent  to  be  rich.  Though  the  in- 
terests of  commerce  should  have  inculcated  the  desire  of 
peace.  v»»t  theinflnon™  «f  a  few  leading  men  in  the  state. 


CM.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  4? 

and  even  die  spirit  of  rapacity  which  pervaded  the  people, 
thf  necessity  to  which  they  were  often  reduced  of  providing 
settlements  abroad  for  a  populace  who  could  not  be  easily 
governed  at  home,  led  them  frequently  into  foreign  wars, 
and  even  engaged  them  in  projects  of  conquest.  But  not- 
withstanding this  circumstance,  the  community  stilled  or 
neglected  the  military  character  of  their  own  citizens,  and 
had  perjvetual  recourse  to  foreigners,  whom  they  trusted 
with  their  arms,  and  made  the  guardians  of  their  wealth. 
Their  armies,  for  the  most  part,  were  composed  of  Numi- 
dians,  Mauritanians,  Spaniards,  Gauls,  and  fugitive  slaves 
from  every  country  around  them.  They  were  among  the 
few  nations  of  the  world  who  had  the  ingenuity,  or  rather 
the  misfortune,  to  make  war  without  becoming  military, 
and  who  could  be  victorious  abroad,  while  they  were  ex- 
posed to  be  a  prey  to  the  meanest  invader  at  home. 

Under  this  wretched  policy,  however,  the  first  offices  of 
trust  and  command  being  reserved  for  the  natives,  though 
the  character  of  the  people  in  general  was  mean  and  illibe- 
ral, yet  a  few,  being  descended  of  those  who  had  enjoyed 
the  higher  honours  of  the  state,  inherited  the  characters  of 
statesmen  and  warriors ;  and,  instead  of  suffering  by  the 
contagion  of  mercenary  characters,  they  derived  some  addi- 
tional elevation  of  mind  from  the  contrast  of  manners  they 
were  taught  to  despise.  And  thus,  though  the  state,  in 
general,  was  degenerate,  a  few  of  its  members  were  quali- 
fied for  great  affairs.  War,  and  the  other  objects  of  state, 
naturally  devolved  on  such  men,  and  occasionally  rendered 
them  necessary  to  a  sedentary  or  corrupted  people,  who,  in 
ordinary  times,  were  disposed  to  slight  their  abilities,  or  to 
distrust  their  power.  They  became  unfortunately  a  party 
for  war  in  the  councils  of  their  country,  as  those  who  were 
jealous  of  them  became,  with  still  less  advantage  to  the 
public,  a  party  for  peace ;  or,  when  at  war,  a  party  who 
endeavoured  to  embarrass  the  conduct  of  it;  and,  under 
the  ettects  of  misfortune,  were  ever  ready  to  purchase 
tranquillity  by  the  most  shameful  and  dangerous  conces- 
sions. 

Carthage  being  mistress  of  the  sea,  was  already  kng 
known  on  the  coasts  of  Italy:  she  had  treaties  subsisting 
with  the  Romans  above  two  hundred  years,  in  which  they 
mutually  settled  the  limits  of  their  navigation,  and  the 
regulations  of  their  trade.  And  the  Romans,  as  parties  in 
these  treaties,  appear  to  have  had  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations  by  sea,  earlier  than  is  stated  in  tne  other  parts  01 
their  history. 

The  Carthaginians  were  already  in  possession  of  Ljli- 


43  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I 

baum.  and  of  other  posts  on  the  island  of  Sicily,  and  had  a 
design  on  the  whole.  The  Romans  were  in  sight  of  it ;  and, 
by  their  possession  of  Rhegium,  commanded  one  side  of  the 
Straits.  The  other  side  was  occupied  by  the  Mamertines, 
a  race  of  Italian  ex;Taction,  who,  being  placed  at  Messina 
by  the  king  of  Syracuse  to  defend  that  station,  barbarously 
murdered  the  citizens,  and  took  possession  of  their  habita- 
tions and  effects. 

This  horrid  action  was  afterwards  imitated  by  a  Roman 
legion  posted  at  Rhegium  during  the  late  wars  in  Italy : 
these  likewise  murdered  their  hosts,  and  seized  their  pos- 
sessions ;  but  were  punished  by  the  Romans,  for  this  act  of 
cruelty  and  treachery,  with  the  most  exemplary  rigour. 
They  were  conducted  in  chains  to  Rome,  scourged,  and 
beheaded  by  fifties  at  a  time.  The  crime  of  the  Mamer- 
tines was  resented  by  the  Sicilians  in  general  with  a  like 
indignation ;  and  the  authors  of  it  were  pursued,  by  Hiero 
king  of  Syracuse  in  particular,  with  a  generous  and  heroic 
revenge.  They  were,  at  length,  reduced  to  such  distress, 
that  they  were  resolved  to  surrender  themselves  to  the  first 
power  that  could  afford  thorn,  protection.  Bat,  being 
divided  in  their  choice,  one  party  made  an  offer  of  their 
submission  to  the  Carthaginians,  the  other  to  the  Romans. 
The  latter  scrupled  to  protect  a  crime  of  which  they  had  so 
lately  punished  an  example  in  their  own  people.  And, 
while  they  hesitated  on  the  proposal,  the  Carthaginians, 
favoured  by  the  delay  of  their  rivals,  and  by  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  their  military  stations,  got  the  start  of  their 
competitors,  and  were  received  into  the  town  of  Mes- 
sina. 

This  unexpected  advantage  gained  by  a  power  of  which 
they  were  jealous,  and  the  danger  of  suffering  a  rival  to 
command  the  passage  of  the  Straits,  removed  the  scruples 
of  the  Romans ;  and  the  officer  who  commanded  their  forces 
in  the  contiguous  parts  of  Italy,  had  orders  to  assemble  all 
the  sliipping  that  could  be  found  on  the  coast  from  Taren- 
tum  to  Naples,  to  pass  with  his  army  into  Sicily,  and  en- 
deavour to  dispossess  the  Carthaginians  from  the  city  of 
Messina. 

As  soon  as  this  officer  appeared  in  the  road  with  a  force 
so  rmich  superior  to  that  of  his  rivals,  the  party  in  the  city, 
that  favoured  the  admission  of  the  Romans,  took  arms,  and 
forced  the  Carthaginians  to  evacuate  the  place. 

Here  commenced  the  first  Punic  war,  about  ten  years 
after  the  departure  of  Pyrrhus  from  Italy,  eight  years  after 
the  surrender  of  Tarentum,  and  in  the  four  hundred  and 
ninetveth  year  of  Rome.  In  tliis  war,  the  first  object  of 


CH.  IV.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


49 


either  party  was  no  more  than  to  secure  the  possession  of 
Messina,  and  to  command  the  passage  of  the  Straits  which 
ieparate  Italy  from  Sicily;  but  their  views  were  gradually 
extended  to  objects  of  more  importance,  to  the  sovereignty 
of  that  island,  and  the  dominion  of  the  seas. 

The  contest  between  them  was  likely  to  be  extremel} 
unequal.  On  the  one  side  appeared  the  resources  of  a  great 
nation,  collected  from  extensive  dominions,  a  great  naval 
force,  standing  armies,  and  the  experience  of  distant  oper- 
ations. On  the  other,  the  ferocity  or  valour  of  a  small 
State,  hitherto  exerted  only  against  their  neighbours  cu 
Italy,  who,  though  subdued,  were  averse  to  subjection,  and 
in  no  condition  to  furnish  the  necessary  supplies  for  a  dis- 
tant war;  without  commerce  or  revenue,  without  any 
army  but  what  was  annually  formed  by  detachments  from 
the  people,  and  without  any  officers  besides  the  ordinary 
magistrates  of  the  city ;  in  short,  without  any  naval  force 
or  experience  of  naval  or  distant  operations. 

Notwithstanding  these  unpromising  appearances  on  the 
side  of  the  Romans,  the  commanding  aspect  of  their  first 
descent  upon  Sicily  procured  them  not  only  the  possession 
of  Messina,  but  soon  after  determined  Hiero,  the  king  of 
Syracuse,  hitherto  in  alliance  with  the  Carthaginians,  to 
espouse  their  cause,  to  supply  their  army  with  provisions,  and 
afterwards  to  join  them  with  his  own.  Being  thus  rein- 
forced by  the  natives  of  Sicily,  they  were  enabled  to  recall 
part  of  the  force  with  which  they  began  the  war ;  continued, 
though  at  a  less  expense,  to  act  on  the  offensive ;  and  drove 
the  Cartliaginians  from  many  of  their  important  stations  in 
the  island. 

While  the  arms  of  the  Romans  and  of  Hiero  were  victo- 
rious on  shore,  the  Carthaginians  continued  to  be  masters 
"  the  sea,  kept  possession  of  all  the  harbours  in  Sicily, 
overawed  the  coasts,  obstructed  the  military  convoys  from 
Italy,  and  alarmed  that  country  itself  with  frequent  de- 
:ents.  It  was  evident,  that,  under  these  disadvantages, 
he  Romans  could  neither  make  nor  preserve  any  maritime 
acquisitions ;  and  it  was  necessary,  either  to  drop  the  con- 
test in  yielding  the  sea,  or  to  endeavour,  on  that  element 
likewise,  to  cope  with  their  rival.  Though  not  altogether 
as  historians  represent  them,  unacquainted  with  shipping 
they  were  certainly  inferior  to  the  Carthaginians  in  the 
art  of  navigation,  and  altogether  unprovided  with  ships  of 
force.  Fortunately  for  them,  neither  the  art  of  sailing,  nor 
that  of  constructing  ships,  was  yet  arrived  at  such  a  degree 
of  perfection  as  not  to  be  easily  imitated  by  nations  who 
had  any  experience  or  practice  of  the  sea.  Vessels  of  the 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1. 

best  construction  that  was  then  known  were  fit  to  be  navi- 
gated only  with  oars,  or  in  a  fair  wind  and  on  a  smooth  sea. 
They  might  be  built  of  green  timber ;  and,  in  case  of  a 
storm,  could  run  ashore  under  any  cover,  or  upon  any 
beach  that  was  clear  of  rocks.  Such  ships  as  these  the 
Romans,  without  hesitation,  undertook  to  provide. 

The  Romans,  wliile  their  gallics  were  building,  trained 
their  rowers  to  the  oar  on  benches  that  were  erected  on 
the  beach,  and  placed  in  the  form  of  those  of  the  real  gal- 
ley. Being  sensible  that  the  enemy  must  b«  still  greatly 
superior  in  the  management  of  their  ships  and  in  the  quick- 
ness of  their  motions,  they  endeavoured  to  deprive  them  of 
this  advantage,  by  preparing  to  grapple,  and  to  bind  their 
vessels  together.  In  tliis  condition  the  men  might  engage 
on  equal  terms,  fight  from  their  stages  or  decks  as  on  solid 
ground,  and  the  Roman  buckler  and  sword  have  the  same 
effect  as  on  shore. 

With  an  armament  so  prepared,  still  inferior  to  the 
enemy,  and  even  unfortunate  in  its  first  attempts,  they 
learned,  by  perseverance,  to  vanquish  the  masters  of  the 
sea  on  their  own  element;  and  not  only  protected  the 
coasts  of  Italy,  and  supported  their  operations  in  Sicily,  but, 
with  a  powerful  fleet  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  sail,  over- 
came at  sea  a  superior  number  of  the  enemy,  and  carried 
Me  Avar  to  the  gates  of  Carthage. 

On  this  occasion  took  place  the  famous  adventure  of 
Regulus ;  who  being  successful  in  his  first  operations,  gave 
the  Romans  some  hopes  of  conquest  in  Africa:  but  they 
were  checked  at  once  by  the  defeat  of  their  army,  and  the 
captivity  of  their  general.*  This  event  removed  the  seat  of 
the  war  again  into  Sicily ;  and  the  Romans,  still  endeavour- 
ing to  maintain  a  naval  force,  suffered  so  many  losses,  and 
incurred  so  many  disasters  by  storms,  that  they  were,  dur- 
ing a  certain  period  of  the  war,  disgusted  with  the  service 
at  sea,  and  seemed  to  drop  all  pretensions  to  power  on  this 
element.  The  experience  of  a  few  years,  however^  while 
they  endeavoured  to  continue  their  operations  by  land 
without  any  support  from  the  sea,  made  them  sensible  of 
'he  necessity  they  were  under  of  restoring  their  shipping; 
and  they  did  so  with  a  resolution  and  vigour  which  enabled 
them  once  more  to  prevail  over  the  superior  skill  and  ex^ 
perience  of  their  enemy. 

In  this  ruinous  contest  both  Darties  made  the  utmost 
efforts,  and  the  most  uninterrupted  exertion  of  their  forces. 
Taking  the  forces  of  both  sides,  in  one  naval  engagement, 

*  U.  a  49S. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  51 

five  hundred  gallics  of  five  tier  of  oars,  with  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  men,  and  in  another,  seven  hundred 
gallics,  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  were 
brought  into  action ;  and  in  the  course  of  these  struggles 
the  Romans  lost,  either  by  tempests  or  by  the  hands  of  the 
oiu'iny,  seven  hundred  gallics;  their  antagonists,  about  five 
hundred.  In  the  result  of  these  destructive  encounters,  the 
Carthaginians,  beginning  to  balance  the  inconveniences 
which  attended  the  continuance  of  war  against  the  conces- 
sions that  were  necessary  to  obtain  peace,  came  to  a  resolu- 
tion to  accept  of  the  following  terms  :* 

That  they  should  evacuate  Sicily,  and  all  the  islands 
from  thence  to  Africa : 

That  they  should  not  for  the  future  make  war  on  Iliero 
king  of  Syracuse,  nor  on  any  of  his  allies: 

That  they  should  release  all  Roman  captives  without 
any  ransom : 

And  within  twenty  years  pay  to  the  Romans  a  sura  of 
three  thousand  Euboic  talents. 

Thus  the  Romans,  in  the  result  of  a  war,  which  was  the 
first  they  undertook  beyond  the  limits  of  Italy,  entered  on 
the  possession  of  all  that  the  Carthaginians  held  in  the 
islands  for  which  they  contended;  and,  by  a  continuation 
of  the  same  policy  which  they  had  so  successfully  pursued 
in  Italy,  by  applying  to  their  new  acquisitions,  instead  of 
the  alarming  denomination  of  subject,  the  softer  name  of 
ally,  they  brought  Hiero,  who  was  sovereign  of  the  greater 
part  of  Sicily,  into  a  state  of  dependence  on  themselves. 

At  this  time,  when  the  nation  emerged  with  so  much 
lustre  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Italy,  the  parties  which  di- 
vided the  state,  and  whose  animosity  sharpened  so  much 
the  pangs  which  preceded  the  birth  of  many  of  its  public 
establishments,  had  no  longer  any  object  of  contest.  The 
officers  of  state  were  taken  promiscuously  from  either  class 
of  the  people,  and  the  distinction  of  plebeian  and  patri- 
nan  had  in  a  great  measure  lost  its  effect.  A  happier  spe- 
cies of  aristocracy  began  to  arise  from  the  lustre  of  person- 
al qualities,  and  the  honours  of  family,  which  devolved  up- 
on those  who  were  descended  from  citizens  who  had  borne 
the  higher  offices  of  state,  and  were  distinguished  in  their' 
country's  service. 

The  different  orders  of  men  in  the  commonwealth  having 
obtained  the  institutions  for  which  they  severally  contended, 
the  number  of  officers  was  increased,  for  the  better  adminis- 
tration of  affairs,  which  were  fast  accumulating.  Thus  a 

•  tf.C-51* 


52  HISTORY  OF  THv:  [B.  1. 

second  pretor  was  added  to  the  original  establishment  of 
this  office ;  and,  the  persons  who  held  it  were  destined  to 
fcct  either  in  a  civil  or  military  capacity,  to  hear  causes  in 
the  city,  or  to  command  armies  in  the  field.  They  were 
assisted  in  the  first  of  these  functions  by  a  new  institution, 
that  of  the  centum virs,  or  the  hundred,  who  were  draughted 
from  the  tribes,  and  appointed,  during  the  year  of  their 
nomination,  under  the  direction  of  the  pretors,  to  take  cog« 
nizance  of  civil  disputes.  The  number  of  tribes,  being  now 
completed  to  thirty-five,  and  three  of  the  centumvirs  being 
draughted  from  each,  made  the  whole  amount  to  a  hundred 
and  five. 

The  city,  during  the  late  destructive  war,  sent  abroad 
two  colonies,  one  to  Castrum  Innui,  a  village  of  the  Latins, 
the  other  to  Firmium  in  the  Picenum,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  peninsula,  intended  rather  to  guard  and  protect  the 
coast,  than  to  provide  for  any  superabundance  of  the  people, 
whose  numbers  at  tlu's  time  underwent  a  considerable  di- 
minution ;  the  rolls  having  decreased  in  the  course  of  five 
years,  from  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twenty-seven,  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-two.  The  revenue,  to 
which  citizens  who  were  accustomed  to  pay  with  their  per- 
sonal service,  had  little  to  spare  from  their  effects,  and  which 
was  at  all  times  probably  scanty,  being  often  exhausted  by 
the  expenses  of  the  late  war,  brought  the  community  under 
the  necessity  of  acquitting  itself  of  its  debts,  by  diminisliing 
the  weight,  or  raising  the  current  value  of  its  coin.  The 
as,  which  was  the  ordinary  measure  of  valuation,  being 
the  libra,  or  pound  of  copper  stamped,  and  hitherto  contain- 
ing twelve  ounces,  was  reduced  in  its  weight  to  two 
ounces. 

In  the  circumstances  or  events  which  immediately  followed 
the  peace  between  Rome  and  Carthage,  those  nation's  showed 
the  different  tendency  of  their  institutions  and  manners. 
The  Romans,  in  the  very  struggles  of  a  seemingly  destruc- 
tive contest,  had  acquired  strength  and  security,  not  only  by 
the  reputation  of  great  victories,  but  still  more  by  the  mili- 
tary spirit  and  improved  discipline  and  skill  of  their  people 
by  sea  and  by  land.  Although  their  subjects  in  Italy  re- 
volted, and  their  allies  withdrew  their  support,  yet  both 
were  soon  reduced,  at  the  first  appearance  of  these  veteran 
soldiers  who  had  been  formed  in  the  service  of  the  preceding 
war. 

The  Carthgmiaans,  on  the  contrary,  had  made  war  above 
twenty  years  without  becoming'  more  warlike;  had  ex- 
hausted their  resources,  and  consumed  the  bread  of  their 


Cn.  IV.]  KOMAN  REPUBLIC.  53 

own  people  in  maintaining  foreign  mercenaries,  who, 
instead  of  being1  an  accession  of  strength,  were  ready  to 
prey  on  their  weakness,  and  to  become  the  most  formidable 
enemies  to  the  state  they  had  served.  Their  army,  com- 
posed, as  usual,  of  hirelings  from  Gaul,  Spain,  and  the 
interior  parts  ef  Africa,  estimated  their  services  in  the  war 
which  was  tken  concluded  at  a  higher  value  than  the  state 
was  disposed  to  allow,  and  attempted  to  take  by  force  what 
was  refused  to  their  representations  and  claims.  Being- 
assembled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carthage  to  receive 
the  arrears  of  their  pay,  the  senate  mildly  proposed,  in 
consideration  of  the  distressed  condition  of  the  public 
revenue,  that  they  should  make  some  abatement  of  the 
sums  that  were  due  to  them.  But  the  state,  instead  of 
attaining  the  abatements  winch  were  thus  proposed,  only 
provoked  men  with  arms  in  their  hands  to  enter  into  alter- 
cations, and  to  multiply  their  claims  and  pretensions.  The 
mercenaries  took  offence  at  the  delays  of  payment,  rose  in 
their  demands  upon  every  concession,  and  marched  at  last 
to  the  capital,  with  all  the  appearances  and  tlureats  of  an  open 
and  victorious  enemy.  They  issued  a  proclamation  on  their 
march,  inviting  all  the  provincial  subjects  of  the  common- 
wealth to  assert  their  freedom,  and,  by  the  numbers  that 
nocked  to  them  from  every  quarter,  became  a  mighty  host, 
to  which  the  city  had  nothing  to  oppose,  but  its  walls.  To 
effectuate  the  reduction  of  Carthage,  they  invested  Tunis 
and  Utica,  and  submitted  to  all  the  discipline  of  war  from 
the  officers  whom  they  themselves  'had  appointed  tr 
command. 

In  this  crisis,  the  republic  of  Carthage,  cut  off  from  all  its 
resources  and  ordinary  supplies,  attacked  with  that  very 
sword  on  which  it  relied  for  defence,  and  in  a  situation 
extremely  deplorable  and  dangerous,  having  still  some 
confidence  in  the  ability  of  their  senators,  and  in  the  magna- 
nimity of  officers  tried  and  experienced  in  arduous  and 
perilous  situations,  was  not  altogether  reduced  to  despair. 
Although  the  people  had  committed  their  arms  into  the 
hands  of  strangers,  the  command  of  armies  had  been  still 
reserved  to  their  own  citizens  ;  and  now,  by  the  presence 
and  abilities  of  a  few  great  men,  they  were  taught  to  assume 
a  necessary  courage,  to  put  themselves  in  a  military  postures 
and  to  maintain,  during  three  years,  and  through  a  seem* 
of  mutual  cruelties  and  retaliations,  unheard  of  in  the 
contests  of  nationsat  war,  astruggle  of  the  greatest  difficulty. 
In  this  struggle  they  prevailed  at  last  by  the  total  extirpa- 
tion of  this  vile  and  outrageous  enemy. 
During  the  dependence  of  thi»  odious  revolt,  the  Romans 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

refrained  from  giving  any  countenance  even  against  their 
rival  to  such  unworthy  antagonists.  They  refused  to  enter 
into  any  correspondence  with  a  part  of  the  rebel  mercenar- 
ies, who,  being  stationed  in  Sardinia,  ottered  to  surrender 
that  island  into  their  hands.  They  proliibited  the  traders 
of  Italy  to  furnish  the  rebels  with  any  supply  of  provisions 
or  stores,  and  abandoned  every  vessel  that  presumed  to 
transgress  these  orders,  to  the  mercy  of  the  Carthaginian 
cruisers  which  plied  before  the  harbours  of  Tunis  and 
Utica.  Above  five  hundred  Roman  prisoners,  seized  by 
these  cruisers,  were  detained  in  the  jaUs  of  Carthage.  At 
the  termination,  however,  of  this  war,  when  the  Carthagin- 
ians were  far  from  being  disposed  to  renew  any  quarrel 
whatever,  the  Romans  fixed  on  this  as  a  ground  of  dispute, 
complained  of  piracies  committed  against  the  traders  of  Italy, 
under  pretence  of  intercepting  supplies  to  the  rebels ;  and, 
by  threatening  immediate  war  upon  this  account,  obtained 
from  the  state  itself  a  surrender  of  the  island  of  Sardinia, 
which  they  had  refused  to  accept  from  the  rebels,  and  got  an 
addition  of  two  hundred  talents  to  the  sum  stipulated  in  the 
late  treaty  of  peace,  to  make  up  for  their  pretended  losses 
by  the  supposed  unwarrantable  capture  of  their  sliips. 

Upon  this  surrender  the  Sardinians  bore  with  some 
discontent  the  change  of  their  Sovereigns ;  and,  on  the  first 
prohibition  of  their  usual  commerce  with  Carthage,  to  Avhich 
they  had  been  long  accustomed,  took  arms,  and  endeavoured 
for  some  time  to  withstand  the  orders  which  they  were 
required  to  obey. . 

Soon  after  the  Romans  had  reconciled  these  newly  acquired 
subjects  to  their  government,  had  quelled  a  re  volt  in  Tuscany, 
and  vanquished  some  cantons  of  Liguria,  whom  it  is  said 
they  brought  to  submit  as  fast  as  the  access  to  that  country 
could  be  opened,  they  found  themselves  at  peace  with  all 
the  world ;  and,  in  token  of  this  memorable  circumstance, 
shut  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  Janus ;  a  ceremony  which 
the  continual  succession  of  wars,  from  the  reign  of  Numa 
to  the  present  time,  had  prevented,  during  a  period  of  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years ;  a  ceremony,  which,  when 
performed,  marked  a  situation  as  transient  as  it  was  strange 
Riid  uncommon.* 

Fresh  disturbances  in  some  of  the  possessions  recently 
seized  by  the  republic,  and  a  quarrel  of  some  importance 
that  carried  her  arms  for  the  first  time  beyond  the  Hadriatic, 
embroiled  her  anew  in  a  succession  of  wars  and  military 
adventure?. 

•  V.  0.  lift 


C«.  \V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  55 

The  Illyriaus  had  become  of  late  a  considerable  nation, 
and  were  a  party  in  the  negotiations  and  quarrels  of  the 
Macedonians  and  the  Greeks.  Having  convenient  harbours 
and  retreats  for  shipping,  they  carried  on  a  piratical  war 
\vith  most  of  their  neighbours,  and,  in  particular,  committed 
depredations  on  the  traders  of  Italy,  which  it  concerned  the 
Romans,  as  the  sovereigns  of  this  country,  to  prevent.  They 
accordingly  sent  deputies  to  complain  of  these  practices,  to 
demand  a  reparation  of  past  injuries,  and  a  security  from 
any  such  attempts  for  the  future.  To  the  complaints  of  the 
deputies  the  queen  of  Illyricum  refused  to  listen ;  and,  taking 
umbrage  at  certain  expressions  emitted  by  one  of  them,  in 
the  way  of  remonstrance,  had  liim  waylaid  and  assassinated 
on  his  return  to  Rome. 

In  revenge  of  this  barbarous  outrage,  and  of  the  former 
injuries  received  from  that  quarter,  the  Romans  made  war 
on  the  queen  of  Illyricum,  obb'gcd  her  to  make  reparation 
for  the  injuries  she  had  done  to  the  traders  of  Italy,  to 
evacuate  all  the  towns  she  had  occupied  on  the  coast,  to 
restrain  her  subjects  in  the  use  of  armed  slu'ps,  and  to  forbid 
them  to  navigate  the  Ionian  sea  with  more  than  two  vessels 
in  company. 

The  Romans,  being  desirous  of  having  their  conduct  in 
this  matter  approved  of  by  the  nations  of  that  continent,  sent 
a  copy  of  this  treaty,  together  with  an  exposition  of  the 
motives  which  had  induced  them  to  cross  the  Adriatic,  to 
be  read  in  the  assembly  of  the  Achiean  league.  They  soon 
after  made  a  like  communication  at  Athens  and  at  Corinth, 
where,  in  consideration  of  the  signal  service  they  had  per- 
formed against  the  Illyrians,  then  reputed  the  common 
enemy  of  civilized  nations,  they  had  an  honorary  place 
assigned  them  at  the  Isthmian  games ;  and  in  this  manner 
made  their  first  appearance  in  the  councils  of  Greece.* 


56  H1S10UY  OK  THE  [B.  i. 


CHAP.  V. 

Progress  of  Hie  Romans  within  the  Alps— Origin  of  the  second  Punic  Wat 
—March  of  Hannibal  into  Italy — Progress— Action  on  the  Tecinus—On 
the  Trebia—On  the  Lake  Thrarimenus—  Battle  of  Cannes— Hannibal 
not  supported  from  Carthage— Seguft  of  the  War— In  Italy— And  Africa 
—Scipio's  Operations— Battle  of  Zama— End  o/ the  War. 

THE  city  of  Rome,  and  most  of  the  districts  of  Italy,  during 
the  dependence  of  the  last  enumerated  wars  which  were 
waged  at  a  distance  and  beyond  the  seas,  began  to  experience 
that  uninterrupted  tranquillity  in  which  the  capital  and  in- 
terior divisions  of  every  considerable  nation  remain,  even 
during  the  wars  in  which  the  state  is  engaged.  They  had 
indeed  one  source  of  alarm  on  the  side  of  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
which  they  thought  it  necessary  to  remove,  in  order  to  obtain 
that  entire  security  to  which  they  aspired.  The  country  of 
the  Senones,  from  Sena  Gallia  to  the  Rubicon,  they  had 
already  subdued,  even  before  the  arrival  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy  ; 
but  the  richest  and  most  fertile  tracts  on  the  Po  were  still 
in  the  possession  of  the  Gaulish  nations ;  and  it  had  been 
proposed,  about  four  years  after  the  conclusion  of  the  first 
Punic  war,  to  erect  a  barrier  against  the  invasions  of  this 
people,  by  occupying  with  Roman  colonies  the  country  of 
the  Senones,  from  Sena  Gallia  to  the  Rubicon.  Although  the 
inhabitants  to  be  removed  to  make  room  for  these  settle- 
ments had  been  subject  to  the  Romans  above  forty  years, 
yet  their  brethren  on  the  Po  considered  this  act  of  violence 
as  an  insult  to  the  Gaulish  name,  resolved  to  avenge  it,  and 
Invited  their  countrymen  from  beyond  the  Alps  to  take  part 
in  the  quarrel. 

In  consequence  of  their  negotiations  and  concerts,  in 
about  eight  years  after  tne  Romans  were  settled  on  the 
Rubicon,  a  great  army  of  Gauls  appeared  on  the  Roman 
frontier.  These  nations  used  to  make  war  by  impetuous 
assaults  and  invasions,  and  either  at  once  subdued  and 
occupied  the  countries  which  they  overran  or,  being 
repulsed,  abandoned  them  without  any  farther  intention  to 
persist  in  the  war.  Their  tumultuary  operations,  however, 
were  subjects  of  the  greatest  alarm  at  Rome,  and  generally 
produced  a  suspension  of  all  the  ordinary  forms  of  the 
commonwealth.  On  a  prospect  of  the  present  alarm  from 
that  quarter,  the  senate,  apprehending  the  necessity  of  great 
and  sudden  exertions  of  all  their  strength,  ordered  a  general 
account  to  be  taken  of  all  the  men  fit  to  carry  arms,  whether 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  67 

on  foot  or  on  horseback,  that  could  be  assembled  for  the 
defence  of  Italy ;  and  they  mustered,  on  this  famous  occasion, 
above  seven  hundred  thousand  foot  and  seventy  thousand 
horse.  From  this  numerous  return  of  men  in  arms,  tho 
state  was  enabled  to  make  great  detachments,  which  they 
stationed  under  the  consuls  and  one  of  the  pretors  separately, 
for  the  defence  of  the  commonwealth.  The  Gauls,  having- 
penetrated  into  Etruria,  where  the  pretor  was  stationed, 
attacked  and  obliged  him  to  retire.  The  consuls,  however, 
being-  arrived  with  their  several  armies  in  different  direc- 
tions to  support  the  pretor,  renewed  the  conflict  with  united 
force,  and  put  the  greater  part  of  the  Gaulish  invaders  to 
the  sword. 

In  the  year  following,  the  Romans  carried  the  war  into 
the  enemy's  country ;  and  in  about  three  years  more,  passed 
the  Po,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  all  the  plains  on 
ihat  river  quite  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps.*  To  secure  this 
raluable  acquisition  they  projected  two  colonies  of  six 
thousand  men  each,  one  at  Cremona  and  the  other  at 
Placentia,  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Po ;  but  were  disturbed 
in  the  execution  of  this  project,  first,  by  arevolt  of  the  natives, 
who  justly  considered  these  settlements  as  military  stations 
intended  to  repress  and  keep  themselves  in  subjection;  and 
afterwards,  by  the  arrival  of  a  successful  invader,  who,  by 
his  conduct  and  implacable  animosity,  appeared  to  be  the 
most  formidable  enemy  that  had  ever  attempted  to  shako 
the  power,  or  to  limit  the  progress  of  the  Roman  state. 

The  Carthaginians  had  been  for  some  time  employed  in 
Spain,  making  trial  of  their  strength,  and  forming  their 
armies.  In  that  country  Hamilcar,  an  officer  of  distinguished 
fame  in  the  late  war  with  the  Romans,  and  in  that  which 
ensued  with  the  rebel  mercenaries,  had  sought  refuge  from 
that  disgust  and  those  mortifications  which,  in  the  late  treaty 
of  peace,  he  felt  from  the  abject  councils  of  his  country. 
And  having  found  a  pretence  to  levy  new  armies,  he  made 
some  acquisitions  of  territory,  to  compensate  the  losses 
which  Carthage  had  sustained  by  the  surrender  of  Sardinia 
and  of  Sicily. 

Spain  appears  to  have  been  to  the  trading  nations  of  Greece, 
Asia,  and  Africa,  what  America  has  been,  though  upon  a 
larger  scale,  to  the  modern  nations  of  Europe,  an  open  field 
for  new  settlements,  plantations,  and  conquests.  The  natives 
were  brave,  but  impolitic,  and  ignorant  of  the  arts  of  peace, 
occupied  entirely  with  the  care  of  their  horses  and  their 
arms.  These,  says  an  historian,  they  val  ued  more  than  their 

*  U.  C.  B29. 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

blood.  They  painted  or  stained  their  bodies,  affected  long 
hair  with  gaudy  ornaments  of  silver  and  of  gold.  The  men 
were  averse  to  labour,  and  subsisted  chiefly  by  the  industry 
of  their  women.  Their  mountains  abounded  in  mines  01 
copper  and  of  the  precious  metals ;  insomuch  that,  on  some 
parts  of  the  coast,  it  was  reported  that  the  natives  had 
vessels  and  utensils  of  silver  employed  in  the  most  common 
uses. 

The  Carthaginians  had  made  their  first  visits  to  Spain 
under  pretence  of  supporting  the  colony  of  Gades,  wliich, 
like  themselves,  was  sprung  from  Tyre.  They  made  a 
settlement  under  the  name  of  New  Carthage,  in  a  situatioti 
extremely  favourable  to  the  communication  of  Spain  with 
Africa,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  richest  mines. 
Hamilcar,  after  a  few  successful  campaigns,  in  extending 
the  bounds  of  this  settlement,  being  killed  in  battle,  was 
succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  Hasdrubal,  who  continued  for 
some  years  to  pursue  the  same  designs. 

The  Romans,  in  the  mean  while,  were  occupied  on  the  coast 
of  Hlyricum,  or  amused  with  alarms  from  Gaul.  They  were 
sensible  of  the  progress  made  by  their  rivals  in  Spain ;  but 
imagining  that  any  danger  from  that  quarter  was  extremely 
remote,  or  while  they  had  wars  at  once  on  both  sides  of  the 
Hadriatic,  being  unwilling  to  engage  at  the  same  time  with 
so  many  enemies,  were  content  with  a  negotiation  and  a 
treaty,  in  which  they  stipulated  with  the  Carthaginians 
that  thejj  should  not  pass  the  Jberus  to  the  eastward,  nor 
molest  the  city  of  Saguntum.  This  they  considered  as  a 
proper  barrier  on  that  side,  and  professed  for  the  inhabitants 
of  that  place  the  concern  of  allies.  Trusting  to  the  eftect 
of  this  treaty,  as  sufficient  to  limit  the  progress  of  the  Car- 
thaginians in  Spain,  they  proceeded,  in  the  manner  that  has 
been  mentioned,  to  contend  with  the  Gauls  for  the  domin- 
ion of  Italy,  wliich  hitherto,  under  the  frequent  alarms  they 
received  from  this  people,  was  still  insecure. 

Hasdrubal,  after  nine  years'  service,  being  assassinated  by 
a  Spanish  slave,  who  committed  this  desperate  action  in 
revenge  of  an  injury  wliich  had  been  done  to  his  master, 
was  succeeded  in  the  command  of  the  Carthaginian  troops 
in  Spain  by  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Hamilcar.  This  young 
man,  then  of  five  and  twenty  years  of  age,  who  had,  when  a 
child,  come  into  Spam  with  his  father,  seemed  to  inherit  his 
genius,  and  preserved,  probably  with  increasing  animosity, 
his  aversion  to  the  Romans.  Being  reared  and  educated  in 
camps,  and  from  his  earliest  youth  qualified  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  soldiers,  he  on  the  death  of  Hasdrubal,  by  the 
choice  of  the  troops,  was  raised  to  the  command  of  that 


Ca.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  £9 

army,  and  afterwards  confirmed  in  it  by  the  senate  of  Car- 
thage. 

The  Carthaginians  had  now  for  some  time  ceased  to  feel 
the  defeats  and  the  sufferings  which  had  induced  them  to 
accept  of  the  late  disadvantageous  conditions  of  peace, 
and  were  sensible  only  of  the  lasting  inconveniences  to 
which  that  treaty  exposed  them.  They  had  long  felt,  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Romans,  an  insurmountable  bar 
to  their  progress.  They  had  felt,  during  above  seventeen 
years  from  the  date  of  their  last  treaty  of  peace,  the  loss 
of  their  maritime  settlements,  and  the  decline  of  their 
navigation. 

Hamilcar,  together  with  a  considerable  party  of  the  senate, 
were  supposed  to  have  borne  with  the  late  humiliating  peace, 
only  that  they  might  have  leisure  to  provide  for  a  subsequent 
war.  "  I  have  four  sons,"  this  famous  warrior  had  been 
heard  to  say,  **  whom  I  shall  rqar  like  so  many  lions'  whelps 
against  the  Romans."  In  this  spirit  he  set  armies  on  foot 
to  be  trained  and  accustomed  to  service  in  Spain,  and  had 
already  projected  the  invasion  of  Italy  from  thence. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  military  services  which  the 
Carthaginians  devised,  the  execution  of  them  was  secured 
by  the  coming  of  Hannibal  to  the  head  of  their  army.  He 
was  well  formed  for  great  enterprise,  and  professed  an 
hereditary  aversion  to  the  Romans.  In  the  first  and 
second  year  of  his  command  he  continued  the  operations 
which  had  been  begun  by  his  predecessors  in  Spain ;  but 
during  this  time,  although  he  made  conquests  beyond  the 
Iberus,  he  did  not  molest  the  city  of  Saguntum,  nor  give  any 
umbrage  to  the  Romans.  But,  in  the  third  year  after  his 
appointment,  his  progress  alarmed  the  Saguntines,  an*1 
induced  them  to  send  a  deputation  to  Rome  to  impart  their 
fears. 

The  Romans  sent  deputies  into  Spain,  with  orders  to  ob- 
serve the  posture  of  all'airs,  and  to  inform  the  Carthaginian 
officer  on  that  station,  of  the  engagements  which  had  been 
entered  into  by  his  predecessor,  and  of  the  concern  which 
they  must  undoubtedly  take  in  the  safety  of  Saguntum. 
The  return  which  they  had  to  this  message  gave  sufficient 
intimation  of  an  approaching  war;  and  it  appears  that, 
before  the  Roman  commissioners  could  have  made  their 
report,  the  siege  of  Saguntum  was  actually  commenced  by 
Hannibal,  He  had  already  formed  his  design  for  the  inva- 
sion of  Italy,  and,  that  he  might  not  leave  to  the  Romans  a 
place  of  arms  and  a  powerful  ally  in  the  country  from  which 
he  was  about  to  depart,  determined  to  occupy  or  destroy 
that  place.  Ho  was  impatient  to  reduce  Suguc'um  oelore 


00  HISTORY  OF  TI1K  [B.  I. 

tfftj  succours  could  arrive  from  Italy,  or  before  any  force 
eould  be  collected  against  him,  so  as  to  fix  the  theatre  of  the 
war  in  Spain.  He  pressed  the  siecre,  therefore,  with  great 
impetuosity,  exposing-  his  person  in  every  assault;  and 
fexciting,  by  his  own  example,  with  the  pickaxe  and  spade, 
Uie  parties  at  work  in  making  his  approaches.  He  was, 
nevertheless,  by  the  valour  of  the  besieged,  which  they  ex- 
erted in  hopes  of  relief  from  Rome,  detained  about  eight 
months  before  this  place,  and  deprived  at  last  of  great  part 
*»f  its  spoils  by  the  desperate  resolution  of  the  citizens,  who 
chose  to  perish,  with  all  their  effects,  rather  than  fall  into 
ihe  enemy's  hands.*  The  booty,  however,  which  he  saved 
from  tlus  wreck  enabled  him,  by  his  liberalities,  to  gain  the 
Affection  of  his  army,  and  to  provide  for  the  execution  of  his 
design  against  Italy. 

The  attention  of  the  Romans,  during  the  dependence  of 
this  event,  had  been  fixed  on  the  settlements  they  were 
making  at  Cremona  and  Placentia,  to  keep  in  subjection 
the  Gauls,  and  on  a  naval  expedition  which  they  had 
sent  under  the  consul  JEmilius  to  the  coast  of  Illyricum. 
But,  when  roused  from  their  inattention  to  Spanish  af- 
fairs, by  the  fall  of  Saguntum,  they  proceeded  according 
to  the  usual  forms,  and  agreeably  to  the  law.s  which  they 
had,  from  time  immemorial,  prescribed  to  themselves  in  the 
case  of  injuries  received,  sent  to  demand  satisfaction;  com- 
plained at  Carthage  of  the  infraction  of  treaties;  and  re- 
quired that  Hannibal  with  his  army  should  be  delivered  up 
to  then*  messengers ;  or  if  this  were  refused,  gave  orders  to 
denounce  immediate  war.  The  Roman  commissioner,  who 
epoke  to  this  effect  in  the  senate  of  Carthage,  having  made 
his  demands,  held  up  the  lappet  of  his  gown,  and  said, 
"Here  are  both  peace  and  war,  choose  ye." — He  was  an- 
swered, "  We  choose  that  which  you  like  best." — "Then  it 
is  war,"  he  said;  and  from  this  time  both  parties  prepared 
for  the  contest.f 

Hannibal  had  been  long  devising  the  invasion  of  Italy, 
probably  without  communicating  his  design  even  to  the 
councils  of  his  own  country.  The  war  being  now  declared, 
he  made  his  dispositions  for  the  safety  of  Africa  and  Spain ; 
gave  intimation  to  the  army  under  his  command,  that  the 
Romans  had  required  them  to  be  delivered  up,  as  a  beast 
wltich  commits  a  trespass  is  demanded  in  reparation  for 
the  damage  he  has  done. 

The  Romans,  a  few  years  before,  had  mustered  near 
eight  hundred  thousand  men,  to  whom  the  use  of  arms  was 

*  U.  C.  534.  t  U.  C.  534. 


OB.  V.J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  61 

familiar,  to  \vhom  valour  was  the  most  admired  of  the 
virtues,  and  who  were  ready  to  assemble  in  any  num- 
bers proportioned  to  the  service  for  which  they  might  be 
required :  the  march  from  Spain  into  Italy  lay  across 
tremendous  mountains,  and  through  the  territory  of 
fierce  and  barbarous  nations,  who  might  not  be  inclined 
tamely  to  suffar  a  stranger  to  pass  through  their  country, 
or  lose  any  opportunity  to  enrich  themselves  with  his 
•poila. 

From  such  topics  as  these,  historians  have  magnified  the 
cjwage  of  this  celebrated  warrior  at  the  expense  of  his 
judgment.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  both  were  equally 
exerted  in  this  memorable  service.  In  the  contest  of  na- 
tions, that  country,  which  is  made  the  seat  of  the  war,  for 
the  most  part  labours  under  great  comparative  disadvan- 
tage, is  obliged  to  subsist  the  army  of  its  enemy  as  well  as 
its  own,  is  exposed  to  devastation,  to  hurry,  confusion,  and 
irresolution  of  councils ;  so  much  that,  in  nations  powerful 
abroad,  invasions  often  betray  great  incapacity  and  weak- 
ness, or  at  least  fix  the  whole  sufferings  of  the  war  upon 
those  who  are  invaded.  Hannibal,  besides  tliis  general 
consideration,  had  with  great  care  informed  himself  of  the 
real  state  of  Italy,  and  knew,  that  though  the  Roman  mus- 
ters were  formidable,  yet  much  of  their  supposed  strength 
consisted  of  discordant  parts ;  a  number  of  separate  cantons 
recently  united,  and  many  of  them  disaffected  to  the  power 
by  which  they  were  cemented  together.  A  few  striking 
examples  of  success,  therefore,  for  which  he  trusted  to  his 
o\vn  conduct,  and  to  the  superiority  of  veterans  hardened 
in  the  service  of  many  year?,  were  likely  to  let  loose  the 
discontents  which  subsisted  in  Italy,  and  to  shake  the 
fidelity  of  those  allies  who  composed  so  great  a  part  of  the 
Roman  strength.  Even  with  a  less  favourable  prospect  <*•» 
success,  the  risk  was  but  small,  compared  to  the  chance  of 
gain.  A  single  army  was  to  be  staked  against  a  mighty 
Btate. 

Hannibal  collected  together  for  this  expedition  ninety 
thousand  foot  and  twelve  thousand  horse.  In  his  march  to 
the  Iberus,  he  met  with  no  interruption.  From  thence  to 
the  Pyrenees,  being  opposed  by  the  natives,  ho  forced  his 
way  through  their  country;  but  apprehending-  some  incon- 
venience from  such  an  enemy  left  in  his  rear,  he  stationed 
his  brother  Hanno,  with  ten  thousand  foot  and  one  thou- 
sand horse,  to  observe  their  motions,  and  to  keep  them  in 
awe.  After  he  had  begun  to  ascend  the  Pyrenees,  a  con- 
siderable body  of  his  Spanish  allies  deserted  him  in  the 
night,  and  fell  back  to  their  own  country.  This  example, 
G 


62  HlSTOitY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

he  had  reason  to  believe,  would  prove  contagious ;  and  as 
the  likeliest  way  to  prevent  its  effects,  he  gave  out,  that  the 
party  which  had  left  him,  being  no  longer  wanted  for  the 
purposes  they  served  on  the  march,  were  returned  by  his 
orders  to  their  own  country;  that  he  meant  to  spare  a  few 
more  of  the  troops  of  the  same  nation,  as  being  unnecessary 
in  the  remaining  parts  of  the  service ;  and  actually  dismis- 
sed a  considerable  body  to  confirm  this  opinion.  By  these 
separations,  or  by  the  swords  of  the  enemy,  his  numbers,  in 
descending  the  mountains,  were  reduced  from  ninety  to 
fifty  thousand  foot  and  nine  thousand  horse,  with  seven  and 
thirty  elephants. 

Tlus  celebrated  march  took  place  in  the  year  of  Rome 
five  hundred  and  thirty-four,  and  in  the  consulate  of  Pub- 
lius  Cornelius  Scipio,  and  Tiberius  Sempronius  Longus. 
The  Romans,  as  usual  on  such  occasions,  raised  two  con- 
sular armies,  and  proposed,  by  immediate  armaments 
directed  to  Spain  and  to  Africa,  to  fix  the  scene  of  the  war 
in  the  enemy's  country. 

Sempronius  assembled  an  army  and  a  fleet  in  the  ports  of 
Sicily,  and  had  orders  to  pass  into  Africa.  Scipio  embarked 
with  some  legions  for  Spain,  and,  touching  on  the  coast  of 
Gaul,  first  learned  that  a  Carthaginian  army  was  marching 
by  land  into  Italy.  This  intelligence  determined  him  to 
laud  liis  troops  at  Marseilles,  and  to  send  out  a  detachment 
of  horse  to  observe  the  country,  and  to  procure  farther  and 
more  particular  information  of  the  enemy. 

Hannibal  had  arrived  on  the  Rhone  at  some  distance 
above  its  separation  into  two  channels,  and  about  four  days' 
inarch  from  the  sea.  In  order  to  eft'eet  the  passage  of  the 
river,  he  instantly  collected  all  the  boats  that  could  be  found 
on  its  extensive  navigation.  At  the  same  time,  the  natives, 
being  unacquainted  with  strangers  in  any  other  capacity 
than  that  of  enemies,  assembled  in  great  numbers  to  dispute 
his  farther  progress  in  their  country. 

Finding  so  powerful  a  resistance  in  front,  he  delayed  tho 
embarkation  of  his  army  on  the  Rhone,  and  sent  a  detach  • 
ment  up  the  banks  of  the  river  to  pass  it  at  a  different  place, 
and  to  make  a  diversion  on  the  flank  or  the  rear  of  the 
enemy  who  opposed  him. 

On  the  fifth  day  after  the  departure  of  this  party,  Han- 
nibal, having  intelligence  that  they  had  succeeded  in  passing 
the  Rhone,  made  his  disposition  to  profit  by  the  diversion 
they  were  ordered  to  make  in  his  favour.  The  larger  ves- 
sels, which  were  destined  to  transport  the  cavalry,  were 
ranged  towards  the  stream,  to  break  the  force  of  the  cur- 
rent ;  and  many  of  the  horses  were  fastened  to  the  stern  ef 


Cr.  V,]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  63 

ilia  boats.  The  smaller  canoes  were  ranged  below,  and 
were  to  carry  over  a  body  of  foot. 

The  Gauls,  seeing  these  preparations,  left  their  camp,  and 
advanced  to  meet  the  enemy.  They  were  drawn  up  on 
the  banks  of  the  river,  when  the  Carthaginian  detachment 
irrived  on  their  rear,  and  lighted  fires  as  a  signal  of  tlioir 
approach.  Hannibal  observing  the  smoke,  notwithstanding 
the  posture  which  the  enemy  had  taken  to  resist  his  landing, 
instantly  put  off  from  the  shore  :  both  armies  shouted ;  but 
the  Gauls  being  thrown  into  great  consternation  by  the 
report  and  effects  of  an  attack  which  they  little  expected 
on  their  rear,  without  resistance  gave  way  to  the  Cartha- 
ginians in  front,  and  were  speedily  routed.  Hannibal,  hav  - 
ing  thus  lodged  himself  on  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Rhon «», 
In  a  few  days,  without  any  farther  interruption  or  loss, 
passed  that  river  with  his  elephants,  baggage,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  his  army. 

Soon  after  the  Carthaginian  general  had  surmounted  this 
difficulty,  intelligence  came  that  a  Roman  army  had  arrived 
on  the  coast,  and  was  disembarked  at  Marseilles.  To  gain 
further  and  more  certain  information  of  this  enemy,  he, 
nearly  about  the  same  time  that  Scipio  had  sent  a  detach- 
ment on  the  same  design,  directed  a  party  of  horse  to  exa- 
mine the  country.  These  parties  met ;  and,  after  a  smart 
engagement,  returned  to  their  several  armies  with  certain 
accounts  of  an  enemy  being  near. 

Scipio  advanced  with  the  utmost  despatch  to  fix  the  scene 
of  the  war  in  Gaul ;  and  Hannibal  hastened  his  departure, 
being  equally  intent  on  removing  it,  if  possible,  into  Italy. 
The  latter,  in  order  to  keep  clear  of  the  enemy,  directed  his 
march  at  a  distance  from  the  sea  coast,  and  took  hte  route 
by  the  banks  of  the  Rhone.  After  four  days'  march  from 
the  place  where  he  had  passed  this  river,  he  came  to  its 
confluence  with  another  river,  which  was  probably  the 
Isere,  though  by  Polybius  himself,  who  visited  the  tract  of 
this  march,  the  place  seems  to  be  mistaken  for  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Rhone  and  Saone.*  Here  he  found  two 
brothers  contending  for  the  throne  of  their  father,  and 

*  This  famous  route  has  been  a  subject  of  different  opinions,  and  of 
tome  controversy.  In  a  country  that  is  raised  into  vast  mountains, 
round  which  the  way  must  be  found  by  narrow  valleys,  and  the  chan- 
nels of  rivers  it  is  impossible  to  decide  any  question  of  this  tort  from 
the  map.  Polybius  visited  the  ground,  in  order  to  satisfy  himself  on 
the  tract  of  thii  famous  route;  and,  from  this  circumstance,  as  well  as 
from  his  general  knowledge  of  war,  is  undoubtedly  the  best  authority 
to  whom  we  can  have  recourse  in  this  question.  By  his  account,  Han- 
uibal,  after  four  marches  from  the  place  at  whicli  he  had  passed  the 
•hone,  came  to  the  confluence  of  this  with  another  river,  which  is 
widentlr  the  Isere.  From  thenc*.  having  continued  his  route  ten  day§ 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I 

gained  a  useful  ally  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  elder. 
Being,  in  return  for  this  service,  supplied  with  arms,  shoes, 
and  other  necessaries,  and  attended  by  the  prince  himself, 
who  with  a  numerous  body  covered  Ids  rear,  he  continued 
his  march  during  ten  days,  probably  on  the  Isere,  and  about 
a  hundred  miles  above  the  place  where  he  had  passed  the 
Rhone,  began  to  make  his  way  over  the  summit  of  the 
Alps ;  a  labour  in  which  he  was  employed  with  Ms  army 
during  fifteen  days. 

The  natives,  either  fearing  him  as  an  enemy,  or  proposing 
to  plunder  his  baggage,  had  occupied  every  post  at  which 
they  could  obstruct  his  march;  assailed  him  from  the 
heights,  endeavoured  to  overwhelm  his  army  in  the  gorges 
of  the  mountains,  or  force  them  over  precipices,  which  fre- 
quently sunk  perpendicular  under  the  narrow  paths  by 
which  they  were  to  pass. 

Near  to  the  summits  of  the  ridge,  at  which  he  arrived  by 
a  continual  ascent  of  many  days,  he  had  his  way  to  form  on 
the  sides  of  frozen  mountains,  and  through  masses  of  per- 
ennial ice,  which,  at  the  approach  of  winter,  were  now 
covered  with  recent  snow.  Many  of  his  men  and  horses, 
coming  from  a  warm  climate,  perished  by  the  cold;  and 
liis  army  was  reduced  to  twenty  thousand  foot  and  six 
thousand  cavalry,  a  force,  in  all  appearance,  extremely 
disproportioned  to  the  service  for  which  they  were  des- 
tined. 

The  Roman  consul,  in  the  mean  time,  had,  in  search  of 
liis  enemy,  directed  lus  march  to  the  Rhone ;  and,  in  tliree 
days  after  the  departure  of  Hannibal,  had  arrived  at  the 
place  where  he  had  passed  that  river ;  but  was  satisfied  that 

on  the  river,  and  marched  about  a  hundred  miles,  he  began  to  ascend 
to  the  summit,  and  was  employed  in  that  difficult  work  fifteen  days. 
This  account  may  incline  us  to  believe,  that  Hannibal  followed  the 
course  of  the  Isere  from  its  confluence  with  the  Rhone  to  about  Con- 
flans;  that,  having  surmounted  the  summit,  he  descended  into  Italy 
by  the  channel  of  another  river,  or  ttie  Vale  of  Aoste.  Such  are  th» 
passages  by  which  ridges  of  mountains,  in  every  instance,  are  to  b« 
traversed.  It  is  indeed  asserted,  or  implied  in  the  text  of  Polybius, 
that  Hannibal  marched  ten  days  on  the  Rhone  after  its  confluence  with 
the  Arar  or  Lsara;  but  it  i*  probable,  that,  in  visiting  a  barbarous  coun- 
try, in  which  the  Romans  had  yet  no  possessions,  and  with  the  lan- 
guage of  which  he  was  unacquainted,  he  may  have  mistaken  the  I.-vr  j 
for  the  Rhone,  and  consequently  the  Rhone  for  the  Arar  or  Saone. 
The  Rhona  and  Tsere  take  their  rise  from  the  same  ridge,  and  run 
nearly  in  the  same  directions.  In  this  account  of  the  course  of  the 
supposed  Rhone  which  he  visited,  he  mentions  nothing  of  the  Lake  of' 
Geneva,  which  is  scarcely  possible,  if  he  had  seen  it.  Polyb.  lib.  iii. 
"_  47. 

According  to  this  conjecture,  Hannibal  having  marched  by  the  vale 
of  Isere,  Grenoble,  Chamberry,  and  Montmelian,  and  descended  by 
the  vale  of  Aoste,  must  have  passed  the  summit  »t  or  near  the  le«c» 
abbey  of  St  Bernard. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  65 

any  further  attempts  to  pursue  him  in  this  direction,  would 
only  carry  himself  away  from  what  was  to  be  the  scene  of 
the  war  ;  he  returned  therefore  without  loss  of  time  to  his 
Bhips ;  sent  his  brother,  Cneius  Scipio,  with  the  greater  part 
of  the  army,  to  pursue  the  objects  of  the  war  in  Spain;  and 
he  himself,  with  the  remainder,  set  sail  for  Pisa,  where  he 
landed  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  legions  which  he 
found  in  that  quarter ;  and  which  had  been  appointed  to 
restore  the  settlements  of  Cremona  and  Placentia.  With 
these  forces  he  passed  the  Po,  and  was  arrived  on  the 
Teeinus,  when  Hannibal  came  down  into  the  plain  country 
at  some  distance  below  Turin. 

The  Carthaginian  general,  at  his  arrival  in  those  parts, 
had  moved  to  his  right ;  and,  to  gratify  his  new  allies  the 
Insubres,  inhabiting  what  is  now  the  duchy  of  Milan,  who 
were  then  at  war  with  the  Taurini  or  Piedmontese,  he  laid 
siege  to  the  capital  of  that  country,  and  in  three  days  re- 
duced it  by  force.  From  thence  he  continued  his  march  on 
the  left  of  the  Po ;  and,  as  the  armies  advanced,  both  gene- 
rals, as  if  by  concert,  approached  with  their  cavalry,  or 
light  troops,  mutually  to  observe  each  other.  They  met  on 
the  Teeinus  with  some  degree  of  surprise  on  both  sides,  and 
were  necessarily  engaged  in  a  conflict,  which  served  as  a 
trial  of  their  respective  forces,  and  in  which  the  Italian 
cavalry  were  defeated  by  the  Spanish  and  African  horse. 
The  Roman  consul  was  wounded,  and  with  much  difficulty 
rescued  from  the  enemy  by  his  son  Publius  Cornelius,  after- 
wards so  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  this  war,  but  then 
only  a  youth  of  seventeen  years  of  age,  entering  on  his 
military  service. 

The  Roman  detachment,  it  seems,  had  an  easy  retreat 
from  the  place  of  this  encounter  to  that  of  their  main  army, 
and  were  not  pursued.  Scipio  repassed  the  Po,  marched 
up  the  Trebia,  and,  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  Carthagi- 
nians, while  he  waited  for  instructions  or  reinforcements 
from  Rome,  took  post  on  the  banks  of  that  river.  Wliile 
he  lay  in  this  position,  an  alarming  effect  of  his  defeat,  and 
of  the  disaffection  of  some  Gauls  who  professed  to  be  hw 
allies,  appeared  in  the  desertion  of  two  thousand  horse- 
men  of  that  nation,  who  went  over  to  the  enemy. 

The  Raman  senate  received  these  accounts  with  surprise, 
and  with  some  degree  of  consternation.  With  a  pusillam  • 
mity,  also,  uncommon  in  their  councils,  they  ordered  the 
other  consul,  Sempronius  Longus,  to  desist  from  his  design 
upon  Africa,  recalled  him  with  his  army  from  Sicily,  and 
directed  him,  without  delay,  to  join  his  colleague. 

Sempronius,  therefore,  after  he  had  met  and  defeated  a 


6C  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1. 

Carthaginian  fleet  on  the  coast  of  Sicily,  and  was  preparing 
for  a  descent  on  Africa,  suddenly  changed  his  course,  arid 
having  turned  the  eastern  promontories  of  Sicily  and  Italy, 
steered  for  Ariminum,  where  he  landed;  and  joined  Ms 
colleague  on  the  Trebia. 

By  the  arrival  of  a  second  Roman  consul,  the  balance  of 
forces  was  again  restored,  and  the  natives  still  remained  in 
suspense  between  the  two  parties  at  war.  They  had  waited 
to  see  how  the  scales  were  likely  to  incline,  and  had  not 
repaired  to  the  standard  of  Hannibal,  in  the  manner,  it  is 
probable,  he  expected ;  and  this,  with  every  other  circum- 
stance of  the  war,  forced  liim  to  rapid  and  hazardous  coun- 
sels. He  had  been,  ever  since  the  encounter  on  the  Teci- 
nus,  cautiously  avoided  by  Scipio;  who,  even  after  he  was 
reinforced  by  the  other  consular  army,  endeavoured  to 
engage  his  colleague  likewise  in  the  same  dilatory  mea- 
sures; but  Sempronius,  imputing  this  caution  to  the  im- 
pression which  Scipio  had  taken  from  his  late  defeat,  and 
being  confident  of  his  own  strength,  discovered  to  the  Car- 
thaginian general  an  inclination  to  meet  Mm,  and  to  decide 
the  campaign  by  a  general  action.  Sempronius  was  farther 
encouraged  in  this  intention  by  his  success  in  some  encoun- 
ters of  foraging  parties,  which  happened  soon  after  he  had 
arrived;  and  Hannibal,  seeing  this  disposition  of  his  enemy, 
took  measures  to  bring  on  the  engagement  in  circumstan- 
ces the  most  favourable  to  himself. 

He  had  a  plain  in  Ms  front,  through  which  the  Trebia 
ran,  and  parted  the  two  armies.  He  wished  to  bring  the 
Romans  to  Ms  own  side  of  the  river,  and  to  fight  on  the 
ground  where  Ms  army  was  accustomed  to  form.  Here, 
besides  the  other  advantages  wMch  he  proposed  to  take,  he 
had  an  opportunity  to  place  an  ambuscade,  from  which  he 
could  attack  the  enemy  on  the  flank,  or  the  rear,  while  they 
should  be  engaged  in  front.  It  was  the  middle  of  winter, 
and  there  were  frequent  showers  of  snow.  The  enemy's 
infantry,  if  they  should  ford  the  river,  and  afterwards 
remain  any  time  inactive,  were  likely  to  suffer  considerably 
from  the  effects  of  wet  and  cold.  Hannibal,  to  lay  them 
under  tMs  disadvantage,  sent  Ms  cavalry  across  the  fords, 
with  orders  to  parade  on  the  ground  before  the  enemy's 
.iufca  ;  and,  if  attacked,  to  repass  the  river  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  flight.  He  had,  in  the  mean  time,  concealed  a 
thousand  chosen  men  under  the  shrubby  banks  of  a  brook, 
wMch  fell  into  the  Trebia  beyond  the  intended  field  of 
battle.  He  had  ordered  Ms  army  to  be  in  readiness,  and  to 
prepare  themselves  with  a  hearty  meal  for  the  fatigues  they 
were  likely  to  undergo. 


Cn.  V.]  itOMAN  REPUBUC.  67 

When  the  Carthaginian  cavalry,  passing1  the  nver  as  they 
had  been  ordered,  presented  themselves  to  the  Romans,  it 
was  but  break  of  day,  and  before  the  usual  hour  of  the  first 
meal  in  the  Roman  camp.  The  legions  were,  nevertheless, 
hastily  formed;  and  pursued  the  enemy  to  where  they 
were  seen  in  disorder  to  pass  the  river;  and  there,  by  the 
directions  of  their  general,  who  supposed  he  had  gained  an 
advantage,  and  with  the  ardour  which  is  usual  in  the  pur- 
suit of  victory,  they  passed  the  fords,  and  made  a  display  of 
their  forces  on  the  opposite  bank.  Hannibal,  expecting 
this  event,  had  already  formed  his  troops  on  the  plain,  and 
made  a  show  of  only  covering  the  retreat  of  his  cavalry, 
\vhile  he  knew  that  a  general  action  could  no  longer  be 
avoided.  After  it  began  in  front,  the  Romans  were  attacked 
iu  the  rear  by  the  party  which  had  been  posted  in  ambush 
for  this  purpose ;  and  this  being  added  to  the  other  disad- 
vantages under  which  they  engaged,  they  were  defeated 
with  great  slaughter. 

The  »egions  of  the  centre,  to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand 
men,  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy's  Hne,  i*jid  escaped 
to  Placentia.  Of  the  remainder  of  the  army,  the  greater 
part  either  fell  in  the  field,  perished  in  attempting  to  repass 
the  river,  or  were  taken  by  the  enemy.  In  this  action, 
although  few  of  the  Africans  fell  by  the  sword,  they  suft'ered 
considerably  by  the  cold  and  asperity  of  the  season,  to  which 
they  were  not  accustomed ;  and  of  the  elephants,  of  which 
Hannibal  had  brought  a  considerable  number  into  this  coun- 
try, only  one  survived. 

In  consequence  of  this  victory,  Hannibal  secured  hia 
quarters  on  the  Po;  and  by  the  treachery  of  a  native  ol 
Brundusium,  who  commanded  at  Clastidium,  got  possession 
of  that  place,  after  the  Romans  had  fortified  and  furnished 
it  with  considerable  magazines  for  the  supply  of  their  own 
army.  In  his  treatment  of  the  prisoners  taken  at  this  place, 
he  made  a  distinction  between  the  citizens  of  Rome  and 
their  allies :  the  first  he  used  with  severity,  the  others  he 
dismissed  to  their  several  countries,  with  assurances  that 
he  was  come  to  make  war  on  the  Romans,  and  not  on  the 
injured  inhabitants  of  Italy. 

The  Roman  consul,  Semprouius,  was  among  those  who 
escaped  to  Placentia.  He  meant,  in  his  despatches  to  the 
senate,  to  have  disguised  the  amount  of  his  loss ;  but  the 
difficulty  with  which  Ids  messenger  arrived  through  a  coun- 
try overrun  by  the  enemy,  with  many  other  consequences 
of  his  defeat,  soon  published  at  Rome  the  extent  of  that 
calamity.  The  people,  however,  as  awakened  from  a  dream 
of  pusillanimity,  in  which  they  had  hitherto  seemed  to  COD- 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B>  1. 

fine  their  views  to  the  defence  of  Italy,  they  not  only  com- 
manded  fresh  levies  to  replace  the  army  they  had  lost  on 
the  Trebia,  but  they  ordered  the  consul  Scipio  to  his  first 
destination  in  Spain,  and  sent  forces  to  Sardinia,  Sicily,  Tar- 
entum,  and  every  other  station  where  they  apprehended 
any  defection  of  their  allies,  or  any  impression  to  be  made 
by  the  enemy. 

The  unfortunate  Sempronius  was  succeeded  by  Caius 
Flaminius  and  Cn.  Servilius ;  the  first,  being  of  obscure 
extraction,  was  chosen  in  opposition  to  the  nobles,  to  whom 
the  people  imputed  the  disasters  of  the  present  war.  He 
was  ordered  early  in  the  spring  to  take  post  at  Arretium, 
that  he  might  guard  the  passes  of  the  Apennines  and  cover 
Etruria,  while  the  other  consul  was  stationed  at  Ariminum 
to  stop  the  progress  of  the  enemy,  if  he  attempted  to  pass 
by  the  eastern  coast. 

Hannibal,  after  his  first  winter  in  Italy,  took  the  field  for 
an  early  campaign;  and  being  inclined  to  counsels  the  most 
likely  to  surprise  his  enemies,  took  his  way  to  Etruria,  by 
a  passage  in  which  the  vales  of  the  Apennines  were  marshy, 
and,  from  the  effects  of  the  seasons,  still  covered  with  water. 
In  a  struggle  of  many  days  with  the  hardships  of  this  dan- 
gerous march,  he  lost  many  of  his  horses  and  much  of  his 
baggage;  and  himself,  being  seized  with  an  inflammation 
in  one  of  his  eyes,  lost  the  use  of  it.  Having  appeared, 
however,  in  a  quarter  where  he  was  not  expected,  he  avail- 
ed himself  of  this  degree  of  surprise  with  all  his  former 
activity  and  vigour.  * 

The  character  of  Flaminius,  who  was  raised  by  the  favour 
of  the  people  in  opposition  to  the  senate,  and  who  was  now 
disposed  to  gratify  his  constituents  by  some  action  of  splen- 
dour and  success,  encouraged  Hannibal  to  hope  that  he 
might  derive  some  advantage  from  the  ignorance  and  pre- 
sumption of  his  enemy.  He  therefore  endeavoured  to  pro- 
voke the  new  consul,  by  destroying  the  country  in  Ms  pre- 
sence, and  to  brave  Ms  resentment,  by  seeming,  on  many 
occasions,  to  expose  himself  to  his  attacks.  He  even  ven- 
tured to  penetrate  into  the  country  beyond  him  with  an 
appearance  of  contempt.  In  one  of  these  movements  he 
marched  by  the  banks  of  the  Lake  Thrasimenus,  over  which 
the  mountains  rose  with  a  sudden  and  steep  ascent.  He 
trusted  that  the  Roman  consul  would  follow  him,  and  occu- 
pied a  post  from  which  with  advantage  to  attack  him,  if  he 
should  venture  to  engage  amidst  the  difficulties  of  this  nar- 
row way.  On  the  day  in  which  his  design  was  ripe  for 
execution,  he  was  favoured  in  concealing  his  position  on 
tin*  ascent  of  rhe  mountains  by  a  tog  which  covered  vita 


CH.  V.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  69 

hrows  of  th«  hills ;  and  he  succeeded  in  drawing  the  Roman 
consul  into  a  snare,  in  wliich  he  perished,  with  the  greater 
part  of  his  army. 

The  loss  of  the  Romans  in  this  action  amounted  to  fifteen 
thousand  men  who  fell  by  the  sword,  or  who  were  forced 
into  the  lake  and  drowned.  Of  those  who  escaped  by  dif- 
ferent ways,  some  continued  their  flight  for  fourscore  miles, 
the  distance  of  this"  field  of  battle  from  Rome,  and  arrived 
in  the  city  with  the  news  of  this  disastrous  event.  On  the 
lirst  reports  great  multitudes  assembled  at  the  place  from 
which  the  people  were  accustomed  to  receive  a  communi- 
cation of  public  despatches  from  the  officers  of  state ;  and  the 
pretor,  who  then  commanded  in  the  city,  being  to  inform 
them  of  what  had  passed,  began  his  account  of  the  action 
with  these  words:  "  We  are  vanquished  in  a  great  battle; 
the  consul,  with  great  part  of  his  army,  is  slain."  He  was 
about  to  proceed,  but  could  not  be  heard  for  the  consterna- 
tion, and  the  cries  which  arose  among  the  people. 

To  increase  the  general  affliction,  farther  accounts  were 
brought,  at  the  same  time,  that  four  thousand  horse,  which 
had  been  sent,  upon  hearing  that  Hannibal  had  passed  the 
Apennines,  by  the  consul  Servilius,  to  support  his  colleague, 
were  intercepted  by  the  enemy  and  taken.  The  senate 
continued  their  meetings  for  many  days  without  interrup- 
tion, and  the  result  of  their  deliberations  was  to  name  a  dic- 
tator. This  measure,  except  to  dispense  with  some  form 
that  hampered  the  ordinary  magistrate,  had  not  been 
adopted  during  an  interval  of  five  and  thirty  years.  The 
choice  fell  upon  Quintus  Fabius  Maximus.  In  proceeding 
to  name  him,  the  usual  form  could  not  be  observed.  Of  the 
consuls,  of  whom  one  or  the  other,  according  to  ancient 
practice,  ought  to  name  the  dictator,  one  was  dead;  the 
other,  being  at  a  distance,  was  prevented  by  the  enemy 
from  any  communication  with  the  city.  The  senate,  there- 
fore, resolved  that  not  a  dictator,  but  a  pro-dictator,  ehould 
be  named ;  and  that  the  people  should  themselves  choose 
this  officer,  with  all  the  powers  that  were  usually  intrusted 
to  the  dictator  himself.  Fabius  was  accordingly  elected 
pro-dictator,  and  in  this  capacity  named  M.  Minutius  Rufu* 
for  his  second  in  command,  or  general  of  the  horse. 

While  the  Romans  were  thus  preparing  again  to  collect 
their  forces,  Hannibal  continued  to  pursue  his  advantage. 
He  might,  with  an  enemy  more  easily  subdue  I  or  daunted 
than  the  Romans,  already  have  expected  givat  truit  from 
his  victories,  at  least  he  might  have  expected  offers  of  con- 
cession and  overtures  of  peace:  but  it  is  probable  that 
he  knew  the  character  of  this  people  enough,  not  to  Hitter 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1. 

himself  so  early  in  the  war  with  these  expectations,  or  to 
hope  that  he  conl.l  make  any  impression  by  a  nearer  ap- 
proach to  the  city,  or  by  any  attempt  on  its  walls.  He  liar 
already,  by  his  presence,  enabled  the  nations  of  the  northern 
and  western  parts  of  Italy  to  shake  off  the  dominion  of 
Home.  He  had  the  same  measures  to  pursue  with  respect 
to  the  nations  of  the  south.  The  capital,  he  probably 
supposed,  might  be  deprived  of  the  support  of  its  allies, 
cut  oil'  from  its  resources,  and  even  destroyed ;  but  whild 
the  state  existed  could  never  be  brought  to  yield  to  an 
enemy. 

Under  these  impressions  the  Carthaginian  general,  leav 
ing  Rome  at  a  great  distance  on  his  right,  repassed  the 
Apennines  to  the  coast  of  Picenum,  and  from  thence 
directed  his  march  to  Apulia.  Here  he  proceeded,  as  he 
had  done  on  the  side  of  Etruria  and  Gaul,  to  lay  waste  the 
Roman  settlements,  and  to  detach  the  natives  from  their 
allegiance  to  Rome.  But  while  he  pursued  this  plan  in  one 
extremity  of  Italy,  the  Romans  took  measures  to  recover 
the  possessions  they  had  lost  on  the  other,  or  at  least  to 
prevent  the  disaffected  Gauls  from  making  any  considerable 
diversion  in  favour  of  their  enemy. 

For  this  purpose,  while  Fabiixs  Maximus  was  assembling 
an  army  to  oppose  Hannibal  in  Apulia,  the  pretor,  Lucius 
Posthumius,  was  sent  with  a  proper  force  to  the  Po.  Fabius 
having  united  the  troops  that  had  served  under  the  consul 
Servilius,  with  four  legions  newly  raised  by  himself,  fol- 
lowed the  enemy.  On  his  march  he  issued  a  proclamation, 
requiring  all  the  inhabitants  of  open  towns  and  villages  in 
that  quarter  of  Italy  to  retire  into  places  of  safety,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  every  district  to  which  the  enemy  approached, 
to  set  lire  to  their  habitations  and  granaries,  and  to  destroy 
whatever  they  could  not  remove  in  their  flight.  Though 
determined  not  to  hazard  a  battle,  he  drew- near  to  the  Car- 
thaginian army,  and  continued  from  the  heights  to  observe 
and  to  circumscribe  their  motions.  Time  alone,  he  trusted, 
would  decide  the  war  in  his  favour,  against  an  enemy  Avho 
was  far  removed  from  any  supply  or  recruit,  and  in  a  coun- 
try that  was  daily  wasting  by  the  effect  of  his  own  depreda- 
tions. 

Hannibal,  after  endeavouring  in  vain  to  bring  the  Roman 
dictator  to  a  battle,  perceived  his  design  to  protract  the 
war ;  and  considering  inaction  as  the  principal  evil  he  him- 
self had  to  fear,  frequently  exposed  his  detachments,  and 
even  his  whole  army,  in  dangerous  situations.  The  advan- 
tages he  gave  by  these  acts  of  temerity  were  sometimes 
effectually  seize.l  by  his  wary  antagonist,  but  more  fre- 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  71 

<juently  recovered  by  his  own  singular  conduct  and  unfail- 
ing resourced. 

In  tliis  temporary  stagnation  of  Hannibal's  fortune,  and 
in  the  frequent  opportunities  wliich  the  Romans  had, 
though  in  trifling  encounters,  to  measure  their  own  strength 
with  that  of  the  enemy,  their  confidence  began  to  revive. 
The  public  resumed  the  tranquillity  of  its  councils,  and 
looked  round  with  deliberation  to  collect  its  force.  The 
poople  and  the  army  recovered  from  their  late  consterna- 
tion. 

A  slight  advantage  over  Hannibal,  who  had  too  much 
exposed  his  foraging  parties,  gained  by  the  general  of  the 
horse  in  the  absence  of  the  dictator,  confirmed  the  army 
and  the  people  in  this  opinion,  and  greatly  sank  the  repu- 
tation of  Fabius.  As  he  could  not  bu  superseded  before  the 
usual  term  of  Ms  office  was  expired,  the  senate  and  people 
raised  the  general  of  the  horse  to  an  equal  command  with 
the  dictator,  and  left  them  to  adjust  their  pretensions  be- 
tween them. 

Minutius  being  now  associated  with  the  dictator,  in  order 
to  be  free  from  the  restraints  of  a  joint  command,  and  from 
the  wary  counsels  of  his  colleague,  desired,  as  the  proper - 
est  way  of  adjusting  their  pretensions,  to  divide  the  army 
between  them.  In  this  new  situation  he  soon  after,  by  his 
rashness,  exposed  himself  and  his  division  to  be  entirely  cut 
off  by  the  enemy.  But  being  rescued  by  Fabius,  he  gave 
p/oofs  of  a  magnanimous  spirit,  confessed  the  favour  he  had 
received,  and  committing  himself,  with  the  whole  army  to 
the  conduct  of  his  colleague,  he  left  this  cautious  officer, 
during  the  i^Mnaining  period  of  their  joint  command,  to  pur- 
sue the  plan  ne  had  formed  for  the  war. 

At  this  time,  however,  the  people,  and  even  the  senate, 
were  not  willing  to  wait  for  the  effect  of  such  seemingly 
languid  and  dilatory  measures  as  Fabius  was  inclined  to 
pursue.  They  resolved  to  augment  the  army  in  Italy  to 
eight  legions,  which,  with  an  equal  number  of  the  allies, 
amounted  to  eighty  thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand  two 
hundred  horse ;  and  they  intended,  in  the  approaching  elec- 
tion of  consuls,  to  choose  men,  not  only  of  reputed  abilities, 
but  of  decisive  and  resolute  counsels.  As  such  they  elected 
C.  Terentius  Varro,  supposed  to  be  of  a  bold  and  dauntless 
epirit ;  and,  in  order  to  temper  his  ardour,  joined  with  him 
in  the  command  L.  Emilius  Paulus,  an  officer  of  approved 
experience,  who  had  formerly  obtained  a  triumph  for  his  vic- 
tories in  Illyricum,  and  who  was  liigh  in  the  confidence  of 
the  senate,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  people. 

In  the  autumn  before  the  nomination  of  these  officers  to 


7£  HISTORY  OF  THE  [».  I. 

command  the  Roman  army,  Hannibal  had  surprised  the 
fortress  of  Cannae  on  the  Auficlus,  a  place  to  which  the 
Roman  citizens  of  that  quarter  had  retired  with  their  effects, 
and  at  which  they  had  collected  considerable  magazines  and 
jtores.  Tins,  among  other  circumstances,  determined  the 
senate  to  hazard  a  battle,  and  to  furnish  the  new  consuls 
with  instructions  to  this  effect. 

These  officers,  it  appears,  having  opened  the  campaign 
on  the  banks  of  the  Aufidus,  advanced  by  mutual  consent 
within  six  miles  of  the  Carthaginian  camp,  which  covered 
the  village  of  Canme.  Here  they  differed  in  their  opinions, 
and,  by  a  strange  defect  in  the  Roman  policy,  had  no 
rule  by  which  to  decide  their  precedency,  being  obliged  to 
inke  the  command  each  a  day  in  his  turn. 

Varro,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  his  colleague,  proposed 
to  give  battle  on  the  plain,  and  with  this  intention,  as  often 
as  the  command  devolved  upon  him,  still  advanced  on  the 
enemy.  In  order  that  lie  might  occupy  the  passage  and 
both  sides  of  the  Aufidus,  he  encampei  in  two  separate 
divisions  on  its  opposite  banks,  having  his  larger  division  on 
the  right  of  the  river,  opposed  to  Hannibal's  camp.  Still 
taking  the  opportunity  of  his  turn  to  command  the  army,  he 
passed  with  the  larger  division  to  a  plain,  supposed  to  be  on 
the  left  of  the  Aufidus,  and  there,  though  the  field  was  too 
narrow  to  receive  the  legions  in  their  usual  form,  he  pressed 
them  together,  and  gave  the  enemy,  if  he  chose  it,  an  oppor- 
tunity to  engage.  To  accommodate  his  order  to  the  extent 
of  his  ground,  he  contracted  the  head  and  the  intervals  of 
his  manipules  or  columns,  making  their  depth  greatly  to 
exceed  the  front  which  they  turned  to  the  enepy. 

He  placed  his  cavalry  on  the  flanks,  the  Roman  knights 
on  his  right  towards  the  river,  and  the  horsemen  of  the 
allies  on  the  left. 

Hannibal  no  sooner  saw  this  movement  and  disposition  ol 
the  enemy,  than  he  hastened  to  meet  them  on  the  plain 
which  they  had  chosen  for  the  field  of  action.  He  likewise 
passed  the  Aufidus,  and,  with  his  left  to  the  river,  and  his 
front  to  the  south,  formed  his  army  upon  an  equal  line  with 
that  of  the  enemy. 

He  placed  the  Gaulish  and  Spanish  cavalry  on  his  left  fac- 
ing the  Roman  knights,  and  the  Numidians  on  his  right  fac- 
ing the  allies. 

The  flanks  of  his  infantry,  on  the  right  and  the  left,  were 
composed  of  the  African  foot,  armed  in  the  Roman  manner, 
with  the  pilum,  the  heavy  buckler,  and  the  stabbing  sword. 
His  centre  though  opposed  to  the  choice  of  the  Roman 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  73 

legions,  consisted  of  the  Gaulish  and  the  Spanish  foot,  van- 
ously  armed  and  intermixed  together. 

Hitherto  no  advantage  seemed  to  be  taken  on  either  side, 
As  the  armies  fronted  south  and  north,  even  the  sun,  which 
rose  soon  after  they  were  formed,  shone  upon  the  flanks, 
and  was  no  disadvantage  to  either.  The  superiority 
of  numbers  was  greatly  on  the  side  of  the  Romans ;  but 
Hannibal  rested  his  hopes  of  victory  on  two  circumstances ; 
first,  on  a  motion  to  be  made  by  his  cavalry,  if  they  pre- 
vailed on  either  side  of  the  enemy's  wings ;  next,  on  a  posi- 
tion he  was  to  take  with  Ids  centre,  in  order  to  begin  the 
action  from  thence,  to  bring  the  Roman  legions  into  some 
disorder,  and  expose  them,  under  that  disadvantage  to  the 
attack  which  he  was  prepared  to  make  with  his  veterans 
on  both  their  flanks. 

The  action  accordingly  began  with  a  charge  of  the  Gaul- 
ish and  Spanish  horse,  who,  being  superior  to  the  Roman 
knights,  drove  them  from  their  ground,  forced  them  into 
the  river,  and  put  the  greater  part  of  them  to  the  sword. 
By  this  event  the  flank  of  the  Roman  army,  which  might 
have  been  joined  to  the  Aufidus,  was  entirely  uncovered. 

Having  performed  this  service,  the  victorious  cavalry  had 
orders  to  wheel  at  full  gallop  round  the  rear  of  their  own 
army,  and  to  join  the  Numidian  horse  on  their  right,  who 
were  still  engaged  with  the  Roman  allies.  By  their  unex- 
pected junction,  the  left  wing  of  the  Roman  army  was  like- 
wise put  to  flight,  and  pursued  by  the  African  horse;  at 
the  same  time  the  Spanish  cavalry  prepared  to  attack  the 
Roman  infantry,  wherever  they  should  be  ordered,  on  the 
flank  or  the  rear. 

While  these  important  events  took  place  on  the  wings, 
Hannibal  amused  the  Roman  legions  of  the  main  body  witli 
a  singular  movement  that  was  made  by  the  Gauls  and 
Spaniards,  and  with  which  he  proposed  to  begin  the  action. 
These  came  forward,  not  in  a  straight  line  abreast,  but 
swelling  out  to  a  curve  in  the  centre,  without  disjoining 
their  flanks  from  the  African  infantry,  who  remained  firm 
on  their  ground. 

By  tlu's  motion  they  formed  a  kind  of  crescent  convex  to 
the  front.  The  Roman  rnanipules  of  the  right  and  the  left, 
fearing,  by  this  singular  disposition,  to  have  no  share  in  the 
action,  hastened  to  bend  their  lino  into  a  corresponding 
curve,  and,  iu  proportion  as  they  came  to  close  with  the 
enemy,  charged  them  with  a  confident  and  impetuous  cour- 
age. The  Gauls  and  Spaniards  resisted  this  charge  no 
longer  than  was  necessary  to  awaken  the  precipitant  ardour 
with  which  victorious  try  ops  ofton  M'rv'ly  pursue  a  flyiiy; 


74  HISTORY  OF  THR  [•*£. 

enemy.  And  the  Roman  line  being  bent,  and  fronting 
inwards  to  the  centre  of  its  concave,  the  legions  pursued 
where  the  enemy  led  them.  Hurrying  from  tho  flanks  t« 
share  in  the  victory,  they  narrowed  their  space  as  thej 
advanced,  and  the  men  who  were  accustomed  to  have  t 
square  of  six  feet  clear  for  wielding  their  arms,  being  novi 
pressed  together,  so  as  to  prevent  entirely  the  use  of  theii 
swords,  found  themselves  struggling  against  each  other  foi 
space,  in  an  inextricable  and  hopeless  confusion. 

Hannibal,  who  had  waited  for  this  event,  ordered  a  gene 
ral  charge  of  his  cavalry  on  the  rear  of  the  Roman  legions, 
and  at  the  same  time  an  attack  from  his  African  infantry 
on  both  their  flanks;  by  these  dispositions  and  joint  opera- 
tions, without  any  considerable  loss  to  himself t  he  effected 
an  almost  incredible  slaughter  of  his  enemies.*  With  the 
loss  of  no  more  than  four  thousand,  and  these  chiefly  of  the 
Spanish  and  Gaulish  infantry,  he  put  fifty  thousand  of  the 
Romans  to  the  sword. 

The  consul,  Emilius  Paulus,  had  been  wounded  in  tho 
shock  of  the  cavalry ;  but  when  he  saw  the  condition  in 
which  the  infantry  were  engaged,  he  refused  to  be  carried 
off,  and  was  slain.  The  consuls  of  the  preceding  year,  with 
others  of  the  same  rank,  were  likewise  killed.  Of  six 
thousand  horse  only  seventy  troopers  escaped  with  Varro. 
Of  the  infantry  three  thousand  fled  from  the  carnage  that 
took  place  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  ten  thousand  who  had 
been  posted  to  guard  the  camp  were  taken. 

The  unfortunate  consul,  with  such  of  the  stragglers  as 
joined  him  in  his  retreat,  took  post  at  Venusia;  and  put 
himself  in  a  posture  to  resist  the  enemy,  till  he  could  have 
instructions  and  reinforcements  from  Rome. 

This  calamity  which  had  befallen  the  Romans  in  Apulia, 
was  accompanied  with  the  defeat  of  thepretor  Posthumius, 
who,  with  his  army,  on  the  other  extremity  of  the  country, 
was  cut  off  by  the  Gauls.  A  general  ferment  arose  through- 
out all  Italy.  Many  cantons  of  Grecian  extraction,  having 
been  about  sixty  years  subject  to  Rome,  now  declared  for 
Carthage.  Others,  feeling  themselves  released  from  the 
dominion  of  the  Romans,  but  intending  to  recover  their 
liberties,  not  merely  to  change  their  masters,  now  waited 
for  an  opportunity  to  stipulate  the  conditions  on  which  they 
were  to  join  the  vicior.  Of  this  number  were  the  cities  of 
Capua,  Tarentum,  Locri,  Metapontus,  Crotona,  and  other 
towns  in  the  south-east  of  the  peninsula.  In  other  cantons, 
the  people  being  divided  and  opposed  to  each  other  with 

*  U.  C.  537. 


Cn.  V.]  KOMAN  KKPUJihl.'.  75 

{Treat  animosity,  severally  called  to  their  assistance  such  of 
the  parties  at  war  as  they  judged  were  most  likely  to  sup- 
port them  against  their  antagonists.  Same  of  the  Roman 
colonies,  even  within  the  districts  that  were  open  to  the 
enemy's  incursions,  still  adhered  to  the  metropolis;  but 
the  possessions  of  the  republic  were  greatly  reduced,  and 
scarcely  equalled  what  the  state  had  acquired  before  the 
expulsion  of  Pyrrhus  from  Italy,  or  even  before  the  annex- 
it  i<»n  of  Campania,  or  the  conquest  of  Samnium.  The  allte- 
giance  of  her  subjects  and  the  faith  of  her  allies  in  Sicily 
\vere  greatly  shaken.  Hiero,  the  king  of  Syracuse,  died 
soon  after  this  event,  leaving  his  successors  to  change  the 
party  of  the  vanquished  for  that  of  the  victor. 

Demetrius,  the  exiled  king  of  Pharos,  being  still  at  the 
court  of  Macedonia,  and  much  in  the  confidence  of  Philip, 
who  had  recently  mounted  the  throne  of  that  kingdom, 
urged  that  it  was  impossible  to  remain  an  indifferent  spec- 
tator in  the  contest  of  such  powerful  nations,  persuaded  the 
king  to  prefer  the  alliance  of  Carthage  to  that  of  Rome,  and 
to  join  with  Hannibal  in  the  reduction  of  the  Roman  power ; 
observing,  that  with  the  merit  of  declaring  liimself  while  the 
event  was  yet  in  any  degree  uncertain,  the  king  of  Mace- 
donia would  be  justly  entitled  to  a  proper  share  of  the  advan- 
tages to  be  reaped  in  the  conquest.  Pliilip  accordingly 
endeavoured  to  accommodate  the  differences  which  he  had 
to  adjust  with  the  Grecian  states,  and  sent  an  officer  into 
Italy  to  treat  with  Hannibal.  In  the  negotiation  which 
followed  it  was  agreed,  that  the  king  of  Macedonia  and  the 
republic  of  Carthage  should  consider  the  Romans  as  com- 
mon enemies ;  that  they  should  pursue  the  war  in  Italy 
with  their  forces  united,  and  make  no  peace  but  on  terms 
mutually  agreeable  to  both.  In  this  treaty  the  interest  ot 
Mie  prince  of  Pharos  was  particularly  attended  to;  and  his 
restoration  to  the  kingdom  from  which  he  had  been  ex- 
polled  by  the  Romans,  with  the  recovery  of  the  hostages 
which  had  been  exacted  from  him,  were  made  principal 
articles. 

Hannibal,  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Italy,  after  having 
made  -.var  for  three  years  in  that  country,  had  received  no 
supply  from  Africa,  and  seemed  to  be  left  to  pursue  the 
career  of  liis  fate  with  such  resources  as  he  could  deviso 
for  himself;  but  tliis  alliance  with  the  king  of  Macedonia 
promised  amply  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency  of  liis  aids 
from  Cartilage;  and  Pliilip,  by  tin  oa-y  pas-sage  into  Italy, 
was  likely  to  furnish  him  with  every  kind  of  support  or 
encouragement  that  was  necessary  to  accomplish  the  end  of 
the  war. 


7(5  HISTORY  OF  THH  [».  J. 

The  Romans  were  apprized  of  this  formidable  accession  t<i 
the  power  of  their  enemy,  as  well  as  of  the  general  defection 
of  their  own  allies,  and  of  the  revolt  of  their  subjects.  When 
the  vanquished  consul  returned  to  the  city,  in  order  to  attend 
the  nomination  of  a  person  who  might  be  charged  with  tin* 
care  of  the  commonwealth,  the  senate,  as  conscious  that  he 
had  acted  at  Cannae  by  their  own  instructions,  went  out  in 
a  kind  of  procession  to  meet  him ;  and,  upon  a  noble  idea, 
that  men  are  not  answerable  for  the  strokes  of  fortune,  nor 
4-or  the  effects  of  superior  address  in  an  enemy,  they  over- 
looked liis  temerity  and  his  misconduct  in  the  action ;  they 
attended  only  to  the  undaunted  aspect  he  preserved  after 
liis  defeat,  returned  him  thanks  for  not  having  despaired  of 
the  commonwealth;  and  from  thenceforward  continued 
their  preparations  for  war,  with  all  the  dignity  and  pride  of 
the  most  prosperous  fortune.  They  refused  to  ransom  the 
prisoners  who  had  been  taken  by  the  enemy  at  Cannae,  and 
treated  with  sullen  contempt,  rather  than  severity,  those 
who  by  an  early  flight  had  escaped  from  the  field.  They 
prepared  to  attack  or  to  resist  at  once,  in  all  the  different 
quarters  to  which  the  war  was  likely  to  extend,  and  took 
their  measures  for  the  support  of  it  in  Spain,  in  Sardinia  and 
Sicily,  as  well  as  in  Italy.  They  continued  their  fleets  at 
sea ;  not  only  observed  and  obstructed  the  communications 
of  Carthage  with  the  seats  of  the  war,  but  having  intercepted 
part  of  the  correspondence  of  Philip  with  Hannibal,  they 
sent  a  powerful  squadron  to  the  coast  of  Epirus ;  and,  by  an 
alliance  with  the  states  of  Etolia,  whom  they  persuaded  to 
renew  their  late  war  with  Philip,  found  that  prince  sufficient 
employment  on  the  frontiers  oi  his  own  kingdom,  effectually 
prevented  his  sending  any  supply  to  Hannibal,  and,  in  the 
sequel,  reduced  him  to  the  humiliating  necessity  of  making  a 
separate  peace. 

In  the  ordinary  notions  which  are  entertained  of  battles 
and  their  consequences,  the  last  victory  of  Hannibal  at 
Cannae,  in  the  sequel  of  so  many  others  that  preceded  it, 
ought  to  have  decided  the  war ;  and  succeeding  ages  have 
blamed  this  general  for  not  inarching  directly  to  the  capital, 
in  order  to  bring  the  contest  to  a  speedy  termination  by 
the  reduction  of  Rome  itself.  But  his  own  judgment  is  of 
much  more  weight  than  that  of  the  persons  who  censure 
him.  He  knew  the  character  of  the  Romans  and  his  own 
strength.  Though  victorious,  he  was  greatly  weakened  by 
his  victories,  and  at  a  distance  from  the  means  of  a  reinforce- 
ment or  supply.  He  was  unprovided  with  engines  of  attack  ; 
and,  so  far  from  being  in  a  condition  to  venture  on  the  siege 
of  Rome,  that  he  could  not  undertake  even  that  of  Naples. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  77 

which,  after  the  battle  of  Cannne,  refused  to  open  its  gates ; 
and,  indeed,  soon  after  this  date  he  received  a  check  from 
Marcellus  in  attempting1  the  siege  of  Nola. 

The  Romans,  immediately  after  their  disaster  at  Cannae, 
prepared  again  to  act  on  the  offensive,  formed  a  fresh  army 
of  five  and  twenty  thousand  men,  which  they  sent,  under 
the  dictator  Junius  Pera,  to  collect  the  remains  of  their  late 
vanquished  forces,  and  to  annoy  the  enemy  wherever  they 
might  find  him  exposed. 

Hannibal  kept  in  motion  with  his  army  to  protect  the 
cantons  that  were  inclined  to  declare  on  his  side ;  but  to- 
g-ether with  the  extent  and  multiplication  of  his  new  posses- 
sions, which  obliged  him  to  divide  his  army  in  order  to  occupy 
and  to  secure  them,  he  became  sensible  of  his  weakness ; 
and,  with  the  accounts  sent  to  Carthage  of  his  victories,  he 
likewise  sent  representations  of  his  losses,  and  demanded  a 
supply  of  men,  of  stores,  and  of  money.  But  the  councils  of 
that  republic,  though  abject  in  misfortune,  were  insolent  or 
remiss  in  prosperity.  Being  broken  into  factions,  the  pro- 
jects of  one  party,  however  wise,  were  frustrated  by  the 
opposition  of  the  other.  One  faction  recen  ed  the  applications 
of  Hannibal  with  scorn,  and  moved  that  the  occasion  should 
be  seized  to  treat  with  the  Romans,  when  the  state  had 
reason  to  expect  the  most  advantageous  terms.  But  no 
measures  were  adopted,  either  to  obtain  peace,  or  elfectu- 
.ally  to  support  the  war. 

The  friends,  as  well  as  the  enemies  of  Hannibal,  contri- 
buted to  the  neglect  with  which  he  was  treated.  In 
proportion  as  his  friends  admired  him,  and  gloried  in  his 
fortune,  they  acted  as  if  he  alone  were  able  to  surmount 
every  difficulty;  and  they  accordingly  were  remiss  in 
supporting  him.  The  republic,  under  the  effects  of  this 
wretched  policy,  with  all  the  advantages  of  her  navigation 
and  of  her  trade,  suffered  her  navy  to  decline,  and  permitted 
the  Romans  to  obstruct,  or  molest,  all  the  passages  by 
which  she  could  communicate  with  her  armies  in  Spain  and 
Italy,  or  her  allies  in  Sicily  and  Greece.  They  voted  indeed 
to  Hannibal,  on  the  present  occasion,  a  reinforcement  of 
four  thousand  Numidian  horse,  forty  elephants,  and  a  sum 
of  money.  But  this  resolution  appears  to  have  langui>lu^* 
in  the  execution ;  and  the  armament,  when  ready  to  sail,  waj 
suffered  to  be  diverted  from  its  purpose,  and  ordered  to  Spain 
instead  of  Italy. 

The  soldiers  of  Hannibal,  now  elated  with  victory, 
perhaps  grown  rich  with  the  plunder  of  the  countries  they 
had  overrun,  and  of  the  armies  they  liad  defeated ;  anJ 
presuming  that  the  war  waa  at  an  oud,  or  that  they  them- 


78  HISTORY  OF  THE  ,K 

selves  ought  to  be  relieved,  or  sent  to  enjoy  the  r  arda  of 
BO  glorious  and  so  hard  a  service,  became  remis,  in  their 
discipline,  or  indulged  themselves  in  all  the  excesses,  of 
which  the  means  were  to  be  found  in  their  present  situation. 
Being  mere  soldiers  of  fortune,  without  a  country,  or  any 
civil  ties  to  unite  them  together,  they  were  governed  by  the 
sole  authoiity  of  their  leader,  and  by  their  confidence  in  hia 
singular  abilities.  Although  there  is  no  instance  of  their 
openly  mutinying  against  him  in  a  body,  there  are  many 
instances  of  their  separately  and  clandestinely  deserting  his 
service.  The  Spanish  and  Numidian  horse,  in  particular, 
to  whom  he  owed  great  part  of  his  victories,  upon  some  dis- 
appointment in  their  hopes,  or  upon  a  disgust  taken  at  the 
mere  stagnation  of  his  fortune,  went  over  in  troops  and 
squadrons  to  the  enemy. 

Notwithstanding  these  mortifications  and  disappointments, 
Hannibal  still  kept  his  footing  in  Italy  for  sixteen  years ; 
and  so  long  gave  sufficient  occupation  to  the  Romans,  in 
recovering,  by  slow  and  cautious  steps,  what  he  had  ravished 
from  them.  When  the  war  had  taken  this  turn,  and  the 
Romans,  by  the  growing  skill  and  ability  of  their  leaders,  as 
well  as  by  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  their  people,  began  to 
prevail,  Hannibal,  receiving  no  support  directly  from  Africa, 
endeavoured  to  procure  it  from  Spain  by  the  junction  of  his 
brother  Hasdrubal,  to  whom  he  recommended  a  second 
passage  over  the  Alps,  in  imitation  of  that  which  he  himself 
had  accomplished.  Every  attempt  of  this  sort,  however, 
had  been  defeated,  during  six  years,  by  the  vigour  and  abili- 
ties of  the  two  Scipios,  Cneius  and  Publius,  and  afterwards 
by  the  superior  genius  of  the  young  Publius  Scipio,  who, 
succeeding  the  father  and  the  uncle,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
sequel,  supported,  with  fresh  lustre,  the  cause  of  his  country. 

The  two  Scipios,  after  some  varieties  of  fortune,  though, 
while  they  acted  together,  they  were  generally  successful, 
having,  in  the  seventh  year  of  tlu's  war,  separated  their  forces, 
were  both,  within  the  space  of  forty  days,  betrayed  or 
deserted  by  their  allies,  and  cut  off  by  the  superior  force  ol 
the  enemy. 

The  natives  of  Spain  had,  by  their  want  of  union  and 
military  skill,  suffered  many  foreign  establishments  to  be 
made  in  their  country;  they  had  permitted  the  Carthagini- 
ans, in  particular,  to  possess  themselves  of  a  considerable 
territory ;  but  afterwards,  in  order  to  remove  them  from 
thence,  accepted  of  the  protection  of  the  Romans;  and,  in 
the  sequel,  occasionally  applied  to  either  of  these  parties 
for  aid  against  the  other,  being,  during  the  greater  part  or 
this  war.  the  unstable  friends,  or  irresolute  enemies  of  both. 


CH.  V.]  HOMA.N  KKPUBUC.  79 

A  service  of  so  much  clangor,  so  little  in  public  view,  and 
at  a  distance  from  the  principal  scenes  of  the  war,  was  no* 
sought  for  as  an  opportunity  to  accumulate  fame.  Thd 
young  Scipio,  fired  with  the  memory  of  his  father  and  of  hii 
uncle,  who  had  fallen  in  that  service,  and,  instead  of  being 
deterred  by  their  fate,  eager  to  revenge  their  fall,  courted 
a  command,  which  every  other  Roman  is  said  to  have  de- 
clined. This  young  man,  as  has  been  observed,  had  begun 
his  military  services,  in  the  first  year  of  this  war,  on  the 
Tecinus,  where  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  rescue  his  father. 
He  was  afterwards  present  at  the  battle  of  Cannre,  and  was 
one  of  the  few,  who,  from  that  disastrous  field,  forced  their 
way  to  Canusium.  Being  chosen  commander  by  those  who 
escaped  to  this  place,  he  prevented  the  effect  of  a  desperate 
resolution  they  had  taken  to  abandon  Italy.  Many  of  the 
severer  forms  of  the  commonwealth  having  been  dispensed 
with  in  the  present  exigencies  of  the  state,  Scipio  had  been 
chosen  edile,  though  under  the  legal  standing  age,  being 
only  turned  of  twenty-four. 

The  Romans  had  been  hitherto  preserved  in  all  the 
extremities  of  their  fortune  by  the  superiority  of  their 
national  character,  and  by  means  of  political  establishments, 
which,  although  they  do  not  inspire  men  with  superior 
genius,  yet  raise  ordinary  citizens  to  a  degree  of  elevation 
approaching  to  heroism ;  enabling  the  states  they  compos? 
to  subsist  in  great  dangers,  and  to  await  the  appearance  of 
superior  men.  They  had  not  yet  opposed  to  Hannibal  an 
officer  of  similar  talents,  or  of  a  like  superiority  to  the 
ordinary  race  of  mankind.  Scipio  was  the  first  who  gave 
indubitable  proofs  of  his  title  to  this  character.  Upon  his 
arrival  in  Spain,  with  a  fleet  of  thirty  galleys,  and  ten 
thousand  men,  he  found  the  remains  of  the  vanquished 
Romans  retired  within  the  Iberus,  where,  under  the 
command  of  T.  Fonteius  and  Lucius  Marcius,  they  had 
scarcely  been  able  to  withstand  the  further  progress  of  the 
enemy.  There  he  accordingly  landed,  and  fixed  his  princi- 
pal quarters  for  the  winter  at  Tarragona.  By  his  information 
of  the  posture  of  the  enemy,  it  appeared,  that  they  had 
placed  all  their  magazines  and  stores  at  New  Carthage ;  and 
that,  tlunking  this  place  sufficiently  secured  by  a  garrison 
of  a  thousand  men,  they  had  separated  their  army  into  three 
divisions,  and  were  gone  ^different  directions  to  extend 
their  possessions,  or  to  cover  the  territories  they  had 
acquired.  Of  these  divisions,  none  were  nearer  to  their 
principal  station  than  ten  days'  march. 

Upon  these  informations,  Scipio  formed  a  project  to  sur- 
prise the  town  of  New  Carthage,  though  at  a  distance  from 


80  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

Tarragona  of  above  three  hundred  miles.  He  rested  his 
hopes  of  success  on  the  security  of  his  enemies,  and  on  the 
prospect  of  being  able  to  accomplish  the  greater  part  of  his 
march  before  his  design  should  be  suspected,  or  before  any 
measures  could  be  taken  to  prevent  him.  For  this  purpose 
he  disclosed  it  to  Laelius  alone ;  and  gave  him  orders  to  steer 
or  that  place  with  his  fleet,  wliile  he  himself  made  hasty 
marches  by  land.  This  city  was  situated,  like  Old  Carthage, 
on  a  peninsula,  or  neck  of  land,  surrounded  by  the  sea. 
Scipio  took  post  on  the  isthmus,  fortified  himself  towards 
the  continent,  from  which  he  had  reason  to  expect  some 
attempt  would  be  made  to  relieve  the  place,  and  secured 
himself  on  that  side,  before  he  attacked  the  town. 

In  his  first  attempts  on  the  ramparts  he  was  repulsed ;  but 
observing,  that  at  low  water,  the  walls  were  accessible  at  a 
weaker  place  than  that  at  which  he  made  his  assault ;  and 
having  encouraged  his  men,  by  informing  them  that  the  god 
of  the  sea  had  promised  to  favour  them,  which  they  thought 
to  be  verified  by  the  seasonable  ebb  which  ensued,  he  there 
planted  his  ladders,  and  forced  his  way  into  the  town. 
Here  he  made  a  great  booty  in  captives,  money,  and  ships. 

In  this  manner  Scipio  conducted  his  first  exploit  in  Spain ; 
and  having  carried  on  the  war  with  equal  ability  and  success 
for  five  years,  he  obliged  the  Carthaginians,  after  repeated 
defeats,  to  abandon  that  country.  He  himself,  while  Has- 
drubal  attempted  to  join  his  brother  Hannibal  in  Lucania, 
and  Mago  to  make  a  diversion  in  his  favour  in  Liguria, 
returned  to  Rome.  He  was  yet  under  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  not  legally  qualified  to  bear  the  office  of  consul.  But 
having  an  unquestionable  title  to  the  highest  confidence  of 
his  country,  the  services  which  he  had  already  performed 
procured  a  dispensation  in  his  favour.  He  was  accordingly 
raised  to  the  consulate ;  and  when  the  provinces  came  to  be 
assigned  to  the  officers  of  state,  he  moved  that  Africa  should 
be  included  in  the  number,  and  be  allotted  to  himself: 
"  There,"  he  said,  "  the  Carthaginians  may  receive  the 
deepest  wounds,  and  from  thence  be  the  soonest  obliged  for 
their  own  safety  to  recall  their  forces  from  Italy." 

This  motion  was  unfavourably  received  by  the  greater 
part  of  the  senate ;  and  the  great  Fabius,  from  a  preposses- 
sion in  favour  of  that  dilatory  war,  by  which  he  liimself  had 
acquired  so  much  glory ;  and  by  which,  at  a  time  when  pro- 
crastination was  necessary,  h«had  retrieved  the  fortunes 
of  his  country,  obstinately  opposed  the  adopting  of  this 
hazardous  project. 

It  had  been,  for  the  most  part,  an  established  maxim  in 
the  counsels  of  Romo,  to  oarry  ww,  ^vhen  in  their  povver^ 


^H.  T.I  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  8 1 

into  the  enemy's  country.  They  had  been  prevented  in  the 
present  ra-c  only  by  the  unexpected  appearance  of  Hanni- 
bal in  Italy,  ami  were  likely  to  return  to  the  execution  of 
their  first  design  as  soon  as  their  aftairs  at  home  should 
furnish  them  with  a  sufficient  respite.  We  may,  therefore, 
conceive  what  they  felt  of  the  difficulties  of  the  present  war, 
from  tlu's  and  other  circumstances ;  that  even  after  fortune 
had  so  greatly  inclined  in  their  favour,  they  did  not  yet  think 
themselves  in  condition  to  retaliate  on  the  enemy ;  or  safe 
against  the  designs  which  Hannibal  might  form  in  Italy,  if 
they  should  divide  their  forces,  or  detach  so  great  a  part  of 
them  as  might  be  necessary  to  execute  the  project  of  a  war 
in  Africa. 

They  concluded,  however,  at  last,  with  some  hesitation 
that  Scipio,  while  the  other  consul  should  remain  opposed 
to  Hannibal  in  Italy,  might  have  for  his  province  the  island 
of  Sicily,  dispose  of  the  forces  that  were  still  there,  receive 
the  voluntary  supplies  of  men  and  of  money,  widen  he  him- 
self might  be  able  to  procure ;  and  if  he  found,  upon  mature 
deliberation,  a  proper  opportunity,  that  he  might  make  a 
descent  upon  Africa.  Agreeably  to  this  resolution,  he  set 
out  for  the  province  assigned  him,  having  a  considerable  fleet 
equipped  by  private  contribution,  and  a  body  of  seven 
thousand  volunteers,  who  embarked  in  high  expectation  of 
the  service  in  which  he  proposed  to  employ  them. 

While  Scipio,  by  his  exertions  in  Spain,  was  rising  to  this 
degree  of  eminence  in  the  councils  of  his  country,  the  war, 
both  in  Sicily  and  in  Italy,  had  been  attended  with  many 
signal  events. 

The  fortunes  of  Hannibal,  as  we  have  already  remarked, 
had  been  some  time  on  the  decline.  Capua  and  Tarentum, 
notwithstanding  his  utmost  efforts  to  preserve  them,  had 
been  taken  by  the  Romans.  While  the  lirst  of  these  places 
was  besieged,  he  endeavoured  to  force  the  enemy's  lines : 
and  being  repulsed,  made  a  feint,  by  a  hasty  march  towards 
Rome  itself,  to  draw  oft' the  besiegers.  By  this  movement 
he  obtained  a  sight  of  that  famous  city;  but  again  retired 
without  having  gained  any  advantage  from  this  intended 
diversion.  His  allies,  in  Sicily,  were  entirely  overwhelmed 
by  the  reduction  of  Syracuse;  but  that  which  chiefly  aftected 
his  cause,  by  cutting  oft' all  hopes  of  future  supplies  or  rein- 
forcements, was  the  fall  of  his  brother  Hasdrubal.  This 
officer  had  found  means  to  elude  the  forces  of  Scipio  in  Spain ; 
and  attempted,  by  pursuing  the  tract  of  his  brother  into  Italy, 
to  join  him  in  that  country.  In  this  design  he  actually  sur- 
mounted all  the  difficulties  of  the  Pyrenees  and  of  the  Alps, 
had  passed  the  To  and  th«  Rubicon,  and  advanced  to  the 


82  HISTORl   O*  THE  [B.  1. 

Metaurus  before  he  met  with  any  considerable  check.  There, 
at  last,  he  encountered  with  the  Roman  consuls,  M.  Claudius 
Nero  and  M.  Livius  Salinator,  and  was  defeated  with  the 
loss  of  his  whole  army,  amounting  to  fifty  thousand  men,  of 
whom  not  one  escaped  being  taken  or  slain. 

In  the  following  year,  Mago,  as  we  have  observed,  being 
unable  to  effect  any  considerable  service  in  Spain,  had  orders 
to  make  sail  for  Italy,  and  once  more  endeavour  to  reinforce 
the  army  of  Hannibal.  But,  having  lost  some  time  in  a 
fruitless  attempt  on  New  Carthage,  and  a  report  in  the  mean 
time  having  spread  of  Scipio's  intention  to  invade  Africa, 
he  received  a  second  order  to  land  at  Genoa ;  and,  that  he 
might  distract  or  employ  the  forces  of  the  Romans  at 
home,  endeavour  to  rekindle  the  war  in  Liguria  and  Gaul. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Scipio  proposed  to 
invade  Africa,  passed  into  Sicily,  and  employed  the  whole 
year  of  his  consulate  in  making  preparations.  In  this 
interval,  however,  having  access  by  sea  to  the  coasts  which 
were  occupied  by  Hannibal  in  Italy,  he  forced  the  town  of 
Locri,  and  posted  a  garrison  there,  under  the  command  of 
Pleminius,  an  officer,  whose  singular  abuses  of  power  be- 
came the  subjects  of  complaint  at  Rome,  and  drew  some 
censure  on  Scipio  himself,  by  whom  he  was  employed,  and 
supposed  to  be  countenanced. 

Scipio,  while  he  commanded  the  Roman  army  in  Spain, 
having  already  conceived  his  design  upon  Africa,  had  with 
this  view  opened  a  correspondence  with  Syphax,  king  of 
Numidia ;  and  had  actually  made  a  visit  in  person  to  this 
prince,  who,  being  at  variance  with  Carthage,  was  easily 
prevailed  upon  to  promise  his  support  to  the  Romans,  in  case 
they  should  carry  the  war  into  that  country.  The  Roman 
general,  now  ready  to  embark  with  a  considerable  army, 
sent  Laelius  Avith  the  first  division,  probably  to  examine  the 
coast,  to  choose  a  proper  station  at  which  to  fix  the  assem- 
bling of  his  fleet,  and  to  call  upon  the  king  of  Numidia  to 
perform  his  engagements. 

This  division  of  the  fleet,  at  its  first  appearance,  was  sup- 
posed to  bring  the  Roman  proconsul,  with  all  his  forces,  from 
Sicily;  and  the  Carthaginians,  whatever  reason  they  might, 
for  some  time,  have  had  to  expect  this  event,  were,  in  a 
great  measure,  unprepared  for  it.  They  had  their  levies  to 
make  at  home,  and  troops  to  hire  from  abroad ;  their  forti- 
fications were  out  of  repair,  and  their  stores  and  magazines 
unfurnished.  Even  their  fleet  was  not  in  a  condition  to  meet 
that  of  the  enemy.  They  now  hastened  to  supply  these 
defects;  and,  though  undeceived  with  respect  to  the 
numbers  and  force  of  the  first  embarkation,  they  made  no 


CH.  V,]  WOMAN  REPUBLIC.  83 

loubt  that  they  were  soon  to  expect  another ;  accordingly 
they  continued  their  preparations,  and  took  every  measure 
to  secure  themselves,  or  to  avert  the  storm  with  which  they 
were  threatened. 

They  had  recently  made  their  peace  with  Syphax,  king-  of 
Numidia;  and,  instead  of  an  enemy  in  the  person  of  this 
prince,  had  obtained  for  themselves  a  zealous  ally.  He  had 
broke  oft'  his  engagements  with  Scipio  and  the  Roman*, 
tempted  by  his  passion  for  Sophonisba,  the  daughter  of 
Hasdrubal,  a  principal  citizen  of  Carthage,  who  refused  to 
marry  him  on  any  other  terms.  But  this  transaction,  wliich 
procured  to  the  Carthaginians  one  ally,  lost  them  another ; 
for  this  high-minded  woman,  who,  instead  of  a  dower,  con- 
tracted for  armies  in  defence  of  her  country,  had  formerly 
captivated  Massinissa,  another  Numidian  prince,  that,  being 
deprived  of  his  kingdom  by  Syphax,  had  received  Ids  educa- 
tion, and  formed  his  attachments,  at  Carthage. 

Such  was  the  state  of  parties  in  Africa,  when  this  coun- 
try was  about  to  become  the  scene  of  war.  The  Carthagi- 
nians, still  in  hopes  of  diverting  the  storm,  sent  earnest 
instructions  to  both  their  generals  to  press  upon  the  Romans 
in  Italy,  and  to  make  every  effort  to  distract  or  to  occupy 
their  forces,  and  to  leave  them  no  leisure  for  the  invasion 
of  Africa.  They  sent,  at  the  same  time,  an  embassy  to  the 
king  of  Macedonia,  to  remind  him  of  the  engagements  into 
which  he  had  entered  with  Hannibal,  and  to  represent  the 
danger  to  which  he  and  every  other  prince  must  be  exposed 
from  a  people  so  ambitious  as  the  Romans,  if  they  were 
suffered  to  unite,  by  a  conquest,  the  resources  of  Carthage 
with  those  of  Rome. 

Philip,  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  many  Grecian  states, 
who  were  anxious  that  the  Romans  should  have  no  pretext 
to  embroil  the  affairs  of  Greece,  had,  in  the  preceding  year, 
made  a  separate  peace,  first  with  the  Etolians,  and  after- 
wards with  the  Romans  themselves ;  and  was  now  extremely 
averse  to  renew  the  quarrel.  The  occasion,  however, 
appeared  to  be  of  great  moment ;  and  he  listened  so  far  to 
the  remonstrances  of  the  Carthaginians,  as  to  furnish  them 
u  ith  a  body  of  four  thousand  men,  and  a  supply  of  money. 

The  harbour  of  Hippo,  about  fifty  miles  west  from 
Carthage,  and  under  the  Fair  Promontory,  being  seized  by 
Lielius,  furnished  a  place  of  reception  for  Scipio's  fleet. 
This  officer  accordingly  sailed  from  Sicily  with  fifty  armed 
galleys,  and  four  hundred  transports.  As  he  had  reason  to 
expect,  that  the  country  would  be  laid  waste  before  him, 
great  part  of  this  shipping  was  employed  in  carrying  his 
urovisions  and  stores.  The  numbers  of  his  array  arc  not 


84  HISTORY  OF  THK,  l»«  »-• 

mentioned  His  first  object  was  to  make  liimself  master  of 
Utica,  situated  about  half  way  between  Carthage  and  Hippo, 
the  place  where  he  landed.  He  accordingly,  Avithout  losa 
of  time,  presented  liimself  before  it ;  but  soon  found  himself 
unable  to  execute  liis  purpose.  The  country,  to  a  consider- 
able distance,  was  laid  waste  or  deserted  by  the  natives,  and 
could  not  subsist  his  army.  The  Carthaginians  had  a  great 
force  in  the  field,  consisting  of  thirty  thousand  men,  under 
Hasdrubal,  the  son  of  Gisgo,  together  with  fifty  thousand 
foot  arid  ten  thousand  horse,  under  Syphax,  king  of  Numi- 
di;v,  Avho  now  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Utica. 

Scipio,  on  the  junction  and  approach  of  these  numerous 
armies,  retired  from  Utica,  took  possession  of  a  peninsula  on 
the  coast,  fortified  the  isthmus  wliich  led  to  it,  and  in  this 
station  having  a  safe  retreat,  both  for  his  fleet  and  his  army, 
continued  to  be  supplied  with  provisions  by  sea  from 
Sardinia,  Sicily,  and  Italy.  But  being  thus  reduced  to  act 
on  the  defensive  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  enemy,  and 
not  likely,  without  some  powerful  reinforcements  from  Italy, 
to  make  any  further  impression  on  Africa,  he  had  recourse 
to  a  stratagem  which,  though  amounting  nearly  to  a  breach 
of  faith,  was  supposed  to  be  allowed  in  war  with  an  African 
enemy. 

The  combined  armies  of  Carthage  and  Numidia  lay  in 
two  separate  encampments,  and,  it  being  winter,  were 
lodged  in  huts  covered  with  brushwood  and  the  leaves  of 
the  palm.  I  n  these  circumstances  the  Roman  general  formed 
a  design  to  set  fire  to  their  camp,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the 
confusion  which  that  alarm  might  occasion,  to  attack  them 
in  the  night.  In  order  to  gain  a  sufficient  knowledge  of 
the  ground,  and  of  the  ways  by  which  his  emissaries  must 
pass  in  the  execution  of  this  design,  he  entered  into  a  nego- 
tiation, and  affected  to  treat  of  conditions  for  terminating 
the  war.  Being  possessed  of  these  informations,  he  broke 
olF  the  treaty,  advanced  with  his  army  in  the  night,  and,  in 
many  different  places  at  once,  set  fire  to  Hasdrubal's  camp. 
The  flames,  being  easily  caught  by  the  dry  materials,  spread 
witli  the  greatest  rapidity.  The  Carthaginians  supposing 
that  these  fires  were  accidental,  and  having  no  apprehension 
of  the  presence  of  an  enemy,  ran  without  arms  to  extinguish 
them:  and  the  Numidians,  with  still  less  concern,  left  their 
huts  to  gaze  on  the  scene,  or  to  lend  their  assistance.  In 
this  state  of  security  and  confusion  Scipio  attacked  and  dis- 
persed them  with  great  slaughter ;  and  being,  in  consequent- 
of  this  action,  again  master  of  the  field,  he  returned  to  Utica, 
and  renewed  the  siege  or  blockade  of  that  place. 

It  bad  been  already  proposnd  at  Cfrirtluure  to  have  recourse 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  HKPCJBUC.  86 

to  their  last  resort,  the  recalling  of  Hannibal  to  Ituly.  But 
this  motion,  upon  a  report  from  Hasdrubal  and  Sypliax,  that 
they  were  again  arming1  and  assembling  their  forces,  and 
that  they  were  joined  by  a  recruit  of  four  thousand  men 
newly  arrived  from  Spain,  was  for  some  time  laid  aside. 
These  hopes,  however,  were  speedily  blasted  by  a  second 
defeat  winch  the  combined  army  received  before  they  were 
fully  assembled,  and  by  a  revolution  wliich  ensued  in  the 
kingdom  of  Numidia,  where  Syphax,  pursued  by  Massinissa 
and  Laelius,  was  vanquished  and  driven  from  liis  kingdom, 
which  from  thenceforward  became  the  possession  of  his  rival, 
and  a  great  accession  of  strength  to  the  Romans.  On  this 
calamity  Hasdrubal  being  threatened  by  the  populace  of 
Carthage  with  vengeance  for  his  repeated  miscarriages,  and 
being  aware  of  the  relentless  and  sanguinary  spirit  of  liia 
countrymen,  durst  not  trust  himself  in  their  hands ;  and  in 
a  species  of  exile,  with  a  body  of  eight  thousand  men  that 
adhered  to  him,  withdrew  from  their  service. 

In  this  extremity  there  was  no  hope  but  in  the  presence 
of  Hannibal ;  and  expresses  were  accordingly  sent  both  to 
Mago  and  himself,  to  hasten  their  return  into  Africa,  with 
all  the  forces  they  could  bring  for  the  defence  of  their  country. 

Hannibal,  it  is  probable,  had  for  some  time  been  prepared 
for  this  measure,  having  transports  in  readiness  to  embark 
his  army ;  yet  he  is  said  to  have  received  the  order  with 
some  expressions  of  rage.  "  They  have  now  accomplished," 
he  said  (speaking  of  the  opposite  faction  at  Carthage,) 
"  what,  by  withholding  from  mo  the  necessary  supports  in 
this  war,  they  have  long  endeavoured  to  eit'ect.  They  have 
wished  to  destroy  the  family  of  Barcas;  and  rather  than  fail 
in  their  aim,  are  willing  to  bury  it  at  last  under  the  ruins  of 
their  country." 

While  the  Carthaginians  were  thus  driven  to  their  last 
resource,  Scipio  advanced  towards  their  city,  and  invested 
at  once  both  Tunis  and  Utica,  which,  though  at  the  distance 
of  above  thirty  miles  from  each  other,  may  be  considered  aa 
bastions  on  the  right  and  the  left,  which  Hanked  and  com- 
manded the  country  which  led  to  this  famous  place.  Ilia 
approach  gave  the  citi/.cas  a  fre>h  alarm,  and  seemed  to 
bring  their  danger  too  near  to  sillier  them  to  await  the 
arrival  of  relief  from  Italy.  It  appeared  necessary  to  stay 
the  arm  of  the  victor  by  a  treaty ;  and  thirty  senators  were 
accordingly  deputed  to  sue  for  peace.  These  deputies,  in 
their  address  to  the  Roman  proconsul,  laid  the  blame  of  the 
war  upon  UanniDai,  supported,  as  they  alleged,  by  a  desper- 
ate faction  who  nart  adopted  ins  wild  designs.  They 
tatreated  that  the  Homan*  would  once  more  be  pleased 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  !. 

to  spare  a  republic  which  was  a^ain  brought  to  the  brink  of 
ruin  by  the  precipitant  counsels  of  a  few  of  its  members. 

In  answer  to  tliis  abject  request,  Scipio  mentioned  the 
terms  upon  which  he  supposed  that  the  Romans  would  be 
willing  to  treat  of  a  peace.  A  cessation  of  arms  was  agreed 
to,  and  a  negotiation  commenced;  but  it  was  suddenly 
interrupted  and  prevented  of  its  final  effect  by  the  arrival  of 
Hannibal.  This  general,  after  many  changes  of  fortune, 
having  taken  the  necessary  precautions  to  secure  his  retreat, 
in  case  he  should  be  called  off  for  the  defence  of  Carthage ; 
now  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  the  war,  and  after  he  had 
supported  himself  sixteen  years  in  Italy,  by  the  sole  force 
of  his  personal  character  and  abilities,  against  the  whole 
weight,  institutions,  resources,  discipline,  and  national 
character  of  the  Romans,  transported  his  army  from  thence, 
landed  at  Hadrumetum,  at  a  distance  from  any  of  the  quarters 
occupied  by  the  Romans,  and  drew  to  his  standard  all  the 
remains  of  the  lately  vanquished  armies  of  Carthage,  and  all 
the  forces  which  the  republic  was  yet  in  a  state  to  supply.* 

The  forcing  of  Hannibal  to  evacuate  Italy  was  a  victory 
to  Scipio ;  as  this  was  the  first  fruit  which  he  ventured  to 
promise  from  the  invasion  of  Africa.  With  this  enemy, 
however,  in  his  rear,  it  was  not  expedient  to  continue  the 
attack  of  Tunis  or  Utica.  He  withdrew  his  army  from 
both  these  places,  and  prepared  to  contend  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  field. 

The  Carthaginian  leader,  having  collected  his  forces  at 
Hadrumetum,  marched  to  the  westward,  intending  to 
occupy  the  banks  of  the  Bagrada,  and  from  thence  to  observe 
and  counteract  the  operations  of  his  enemy.  Scipio,  intend- 
ing to  prevent  him,  or  to  occupy  the  advantageous  ground 
on  the  upper  Bragada,  took  Ids  route  to  the  same  country 
and  while  both  directed  their  march  to  Sicca,  they  met  on 
the  plains  of  Zama. 

When  the  armies  arrived  on  this  ground,  neither  party 
was  in  condition  to  protract  the  war.  Hannibal,  whose 
interest  it  would  have  been  to  avoid  any  hazardous  mea- 
sures, and  to  tire  out  his  enemy  by  delays,  if  he  were  in 
possession  of  his  own  country,  or  able  to  protect  the  capi- 
tal from  insult,  was  in  reality  obliged  to  risk  the  whole  o/ 
its  fortunes,  in  order  to  rescue  it  from  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  or  to  prevent  their  renewing  the  blockade. 

Scipio  was  far  advanced  in  an  enemy's  country,  whirl* 
was  soon  likely  to  be  deserted  bvits  natives,  aud  exhausted 
>f  every  means  of  subsistence ;  he  «vas  tar  removaJ  from 


CH.VI  RO.WAM  REPUBLIC.  57 

the  sea,  the  priucipai  ami  only  secure  source  of  any  lasting 
supply;  surrounded  by  enemies;  a  great  army  under  Han- 
nibal in  his  front;  the  cities  of  Utica,  Carthage,  and  Tunis, 
with  all  the  armed  force  that  defended  them,  in  his  rear. 

In  such  circumstances  both  parties  probably  sa\v  the  ne- 
cessity of  immediate  action  ;  and  the  Carthaginian  general, 
sensible  of  the  unequal  stake  he  was  to  play,  the  safety  of 
his  country  against  the  fortune  of  a  single  army,  whose 
l.>ss  would  not  materially  affect  the  state  from  whence  they 
came,  chose  to  trv  the  effect  of  a  negotiation,  and  for  thit 
purpose  desired  a  personal  interview  with  Scipio. 

In  compliance  with  this  request,  the  Roman  general  put 
his  army  in  motion,  and  the  Carthaginians  advancing  at  the 
same  time,  they  halted  at  the  distance  of  thirty  stadia,  or 
ftbout  three  miles,  from  each  other.  The  generals,  attended 
by  a  few  horse,  met  on  an  eminence  between  their  lines. 
Hannibal  began  the  conference,  by  expressing  his  regret 
that  the  Carthaginians  should  have  aimed  at  any  conquests 
beyond  their  own  coasts  in  Africa,  or  the  Romans  beyond 
those  of  Italy.  "We  began,"  he  said,  "with  a  contest  for 
Sicily ;  we  proceeded  to  dispute  the  possession  of  Spain, 
and  we  have  each  in  our  turns  seen  our  native  land  over- 
run with  strangers,  and  our  country  in  danger  of  becoming1 
a  prey  to  its  enemies.  It  is  tirae  that  we  should  distrust 
our  fortune,  and  drop  an  animosity  which  has  brought  us 
both  to  the  verge  of  destruction.  This  language  indeed 
may  have  little  weight  with  you,  who  have  been  success- 
ful in  all  your  attempts,  and  who  have  not  yet  experienced 
any  reverse  of  fortune;  but  I  pray  you  to  profit  by  the 
experience  of  others.  You  now  behold  in  me  a  person  who 
was  once  almost  master  of  your  country,  and  who  am  now 
brought,  at  last,  to  the  defence  of  my  own.  I  encamped 
within  five  miles  of  Rome,  and  ottered  the  possessions  round 
the  forum  to  sale.  Urge  not  the  chance  of  war  too  far. 
I  now  otter  to  surrender,  on  the  part  of  Carthage,  all  her 
pretensions  to  Spain,  Sardinia,  Sicily,  and  every  other 
island  that  lies  between  this  continent  and  yours.  I  wish 
only  for  peace  to  my  country,  that  she  may  enjoy  undis- 
turbed her  ancient  possessions  on  this  coast;  and  I  think, 
that  the  terms  I  otter  you  are  surticiently  advantageous  and 
honourable  to  procure  it." 

To  this  address  Scipio  replied,  "That  the  Romans  had  not 
been  aggressors  in  the  present  or  preceding  wars  with  Car- 
thage: that  they  strove  to  maintain  their  own  rights,  and 
to  protect  their  allies;  and  that,  suitably  to  these  righteous 
intentions,  they  had  been  favoured  by  the  justice  of  th« 
god;:  that  no  one  knew  better  than  himself  th§  instability 


88  HISTORY  OF  THF  f.P,  I. 

of  human  affairs,  nor  should  be  more  on  his  guard  against 
the  chances  of  war.  The  terms,"  he  said,  "which  you  now 
propose  might  have  been  accepted  of,  had  you  offered  them 
while  yet  in  Italy,  and  had  proposed,  as  a  prelude  to  the 
treaty,  to  remove  from  thence ;  but  now,  that  you  are 
driven  from  every  post,  you  propose  to  surrender,  and  are 
forced,  not  only  to  evacuate  the  Roman  territory,  but  are 
stripped  of  part  of  your  own.  These  concessions  are  no 
longer  sufficient ;  they  are  no  more  than  a  part  of  the  condi- 
tions already  agreed  to  by  your  countrymen,  and  which  they, 
on  your  appearance  in  Africa,  so  basely  retracted.  Besides 
what  you  now  otter,  it  was  promised  on  their  part,  that  all 
Roman  captives  should  be  restored  without  ransom ;  that 
all  armed  ships  should  be  delivered  up ;  that  a  sum  of  five 
thousand  talents  should  be  paid,  and  hostages  given  by  Car- 
thage for  the  performance  of  all  these  articles. 

"  On  the  credit  of  this  agreement  we  granted  a  cessation 
of  arms,  but  were  shamerally  betrayed  by  the  councils  of 
Carthage.  Now  to  abate  any  part  of  the  articles  which 
were  then  stipulated,  would  be  to  reward  a  breach  of  faith, 
and  to  instruct  nations  hereafter  how  to  profit  by  perfidy. 
\  ou  may  therefore  be  assured,  that  I  will  not  so  much  as 
transmit  to  Rome  any  proposal  that  does  not  contain,  as 
preliminaries,  every  article  formerly  stipulated,  together 
with  such  additional  concessions  as  may  induce  the  Romans 
to  renew  the  treaty.  On  any  other  terms  than  these,  Car- 
thage must  vanquish,  or  submit  at  discretion." 

From  this  interview  both  parties  withdrew  with  an  im- 
mediate prospect  of  action ;  and  on  the  following  day, 
neither  having  any  hopes  of  advantage  from  delay  or  sur- 
prise, came  forth  into  the  plain  in  order  of  battle. 

Hannibal  formed  his  army  in  three  lines  with  their  ele- 
phants in  front. 

Scipio  drew  forth  his  legions  in  their  usual  divisions,  but 
somewhat  differently  disposed. 

Hannibal  had  above  eighty  elephants,  with  which  he  pro- 
posed to  begin  the  action.  Behind  these  he  formed  the 
mercenary  troops,  composed  of  Gauls,  Ligurians,  and 
Spaniards.  In  a  second  line  he  placed  the  Africans  ana 
natives  of  Carthage ;  and  in  a  third  line,  about  half  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  behind  the  first,  he  placed  the  veterans  who 
had  shared  with  himself  in  all  the  dangers  and  honours  of 
the  Italian  war.  He  placed  his  cavalry  in  the  wings  opposite 
to  those  of  the  enemy. 

Scipio  posted  Laelius  with  the  Roman  cavalry  on  his  left, 
and  Massinissa  with  the  Numidian  horse  on  his  right.  Ho 
placed  the  manipules,  or  dr'isions  of  the  legions,  »s 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  80 

usual,  mutually  covering  their  intervals,  but  covering  each 
other  from  front  to  rear.  His  intention  in  this  disposition 
was  to  leave  continued  avenues  or  lanes,  through  which  the 
elephants  might  pass  without  disordering  the  columns.  At 
the  head  of  each  line  he  placed  the  velites,.  or  irregular? 
infantry,  with  orders  to  gall  the  elephants,  and  endeavour 
to  farce  them  back  upon  their  own  lines ;  or,  if  this  could 
net  be  effected,  to  fly  before  them  into  the  intervals  of  the 
heavy-armed  foot,  and,  by  the  ways  which  were  left  open 
between  the  manipules,  to  conduct  them  into  the  rear.  It 
being  the  nature  of  these  animals,  even  in  their  wild  state, 
to  be  the  dupes  of  their  own  resentment,  and  to  follow  the 
hunter  by  whom  they  are  galled  into  any  snare  that  is  pre- 
pared for  them ;  the  design  thus  formed  by  Scipio  to  mis- 
lead them,  accordingly  proved  successful.  As  soon  as  the 
cavalry  began  to  skirmish  on  the  wings,  Hannibal  gave  the 
signal  for  the  elephants  to  charge.  They  were  received  by 
a  shower  of  missile  weapons  from  the  Roman  light  infantry, 
and,  as  usual,  carried  their  riders  in  different  directions. 
Some  broke  into  their  own  line  with  considerable  disorder, 
others  tied  between  the  armies  and  escaped  by  the  flanks, 
and  many,  incited  with  rage,  as  Scipio  had  foreseen,  pur- 
sued the  enemy  that  galled  them  through  the  intervals  of 
the  Roman  divisions  quite  out  of  the  action;  and  in  a  little 
time  the  front  of  the  two  armies  was  cleared  of  these  ani- 
mals, and  of  all  the  irregulars  who  had  skirmished  between 
them  in  the  beginning  of  the  battle. 

In  the  mean  time  the  first  and  second  line  of  Hannibal'a 
foot  had  advanced,  to  profit  by  the  impression  which  the 
elephants  were  likely  to  make.  The  third  line  still  remained 
on  its  ground,  and  seemed  to  stand  aloof  from  the  action. 

In  this  posture,  the  first  line  of  the  Carthaginian  army, 
composed  of  Gauls  and  Ligurians,  engaged  with  the  Roman 
legions ;  and,  after  a  short  resistance,  were  forced  back  on 
the  second  line,  who,  having  orders  not  to  receive  them,  nor 
allow  them  to  pass,  presented  their  arms.  The  fugitives 
were  accordingly  massacred  on  both  sides,  and  fell  by  the 
gwords  of  their  own  party,  or  by  those  of  the  enemy. 

The  second  line,  consisting  of  the  African  and  native 
troops  of  Carthage,  had  a  similar  fate ;  they  perished  by  th« 
hands  of  the  Romans,  or  by  those  of  their  own  reserve,  \vlio 
had  orders  to  receive  them  on  their  s\vords,  and  turn  them 
back,  if  possible,  against  the  enemy. 

Scipio,  after  so  much  blood  had  been  shed,  finding  his  meu 
out  of  breath,  and  spent  with  hard  labour,  embarrassed  with 
[leaps  of  the  slain,  scarcely  able  to  keep  their  footing  on 
ground  beeonwj  sUppery  with  mud  and  gore,  and  in  the*a 


90  HISTORr  OF  THE  IB.  1. 

circumstances  likely  to  be  instantly  attacked  by  a  fresh 
enemy,  who  had  yet  borne  no  part  in  the  contest;  he  en- 
deavoured, without  loss  of  time,  to  put  himself  in  a  posture 
to  renew  the  engagement. 

His  cavalry,  by  good  fortune,  in  these  hazardous  circum- 
stances, were  victorious  on  both  the  wings,  and  were  gone 
in  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  He  ordered  the  ground  to  be 
cleared ;  and  his  columns,  in  the  original  form  of  the  action, 
having  been  somewhat  displaced,  he  ordered  those  of  the 
first  line  to  close  to  the  centre ;  those  of  the  second  and 
third  to  divide,  and,  gaining  the  flanks  to,  form  in  a  continu- 
ed line  with  the  front.  In  this  manner,  while  the  ground 
was  clearing  of  the  dead,  probably  by  the  Velites  or  irreg- 
ular troops,  he,  with  the  least  possible  loss  of  time,  and 
without  any  interval  of  confusion,  completed  his  line  to 
receive  the  enemy.  An  action  ensued,  which,  being  to  de- 
cide the  event  of  tliis  memorable  war,  was  likely  to  remain 
some  time  in  suspense ;  when  the  cavalry  of  the  lioman 
army,  returning  from  the  pursuit  of  the  horse  they  had 
routed,  fell  on  the  flank  of  the  Carthaginian  infantry,  and 
obliged  them  to  give  way. 

Hannibal  had  rested  his  hopes  of  victory  on  the  disorder 
that  might  arrise  from  the  attack  of  his  elephants,  and  if  this 
should  fail,  on  the  steady  valour  of  the  veterans,  whom  he 
reserved  for  the  last  effort  to  be  made,  when  he  supposed 
that  the  Romans,  already  exhausted  in  their  conflict  with 
the  two  several  lines  whom  he  sacrificed  to  their  ardour  in 
the  beginning  of  the  battle,  might  be  able  to  contend  with 
the  third,  yet  fresh  far  action  and  inured  to  victory.  He 
was  disappointed  in  the  effect  of  his  elephants,  by  the 
precaution  which  Scipio  had  taken  in  opening  his  intervals, 
and  in  forming  continued  lanes  for  their  passage  from  front 
to  rear ;  and  of  the  effect  of  his  reserve,  by  the  return  of 
the  enemy's  horse,  while  the  action  was  yet  undecided. 
Having  taken  no  measures  to  secure  a  retreat,  nor  to  save 
any  part  of  his  army,  he  obstinately  fought  every  minute  of 
the  day  to  the  last ;  and  when  he  could  delay  the  victory  of 
hie  enemy  no  longer,  he  quitted  the  field  with  a  small  party 
of  horse,  of  whom  many,  overwhelmed  with  hunger  and 
fatigue,  having  fallen  by  the  way,  he  arrived  with  a  few,  in 
the  course  of  two  days  and  two  nights,  at  Hadrumetum. 
Here  he  embarked  and  proceeded  by  sea  to  Carthage.  His 
arrival  convinced  his  countrymen  of  the  extent  of  their  loss. 
Seeing  Hannibal  without  an  army,  they  believed  themselves 
vanquished;  and,  with  minds  unprovided  with  that  spirit 
which  supported  the  Romans  when  overthrown  at  Tra- 
bimenus  and  Cannae,  were  now  desirous,  by  any  couces- 


CH.V/I  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  0] 

sions,  to  avert  the  supposed  necessary  consequences  of  their 
fate. 

The  riotous  populace,  that  had  so  lately  pursued  with 
vengeance,  and  threatened  to  tear  asunder  the  supposed 
authors  of  peace,  were  now  silent,  and  ready  to  embrace 
any  terras  that  might  be  prescribed  by  the  enemy.  Hannibal, 
knowing  how  little  his  countrymen  were  qualified  to  con- 
tend with  misfortune,  confessed  in  the  Senate,  that  he  was 
come  from  deciding,  not  the  event  of  a  single  battle,  but  the 
fate  of  a  great  \var,  and  advised  them  to  accept  of  the  victor's 
terms.  They  accordingly  determined  to  sue  for  peace. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Roman  army,  in  pursuit  of  its  victory, 
was  returned  to  the  coast;  and  having  received  from  Italy 
a  large  supply  of  stores  and  military  engines,  together  with 
a  reinforcement  of  fifty  galleys,  was  in  a  condition,  not  only 
to  resume  the  siege  of  Utica  and  Tunis,  but  likewise  to 
threaten  with  a  storm  the  capital  itself;  and,  for  this  purpose, 
began  to  invest  the  town  and  block  up  the  harbour. 

Scipio  being  liimself  embarked,  and  conducting  the  fleet 
to  its  station,  was  met  by  a  Carthaginian  vessel  that  hoisted 
•wreaths  of  olive  and  other  ensigns  of  peace.  This  vessel 
had  ten  commissioners  on  board,  who  were  authorized  to 
declare  the  submission  of  Carthage,  and  to  receive  the 
victor's  commands. 

The  ambition  of  Scipio  might  have  inclined  him  to  urge 
his  victory  to  the  utmost,  that  he  might  carry,  instead  of  a 
treaty,  the  spoils  of  Carthage  to  adorn  his  triumph  at  Rome. 
But  he  is  said  to  have  spared  the  rival  of  his  country,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  emulation  of  courage  and  of  national 
virtue.  This  motive  Cato,  who  had  served  under  him  in 
the  capacity  of  questor,  and  who  was  not  inclined  to  flatter, 
did  him  the  honour  to  assign  hi  a  speech  to  the  senate. 

Scipio,  having  appointed  the  Carthaginian  commissioners 
to  attend  him  at  Tunis,  prescribed  the  following  terms : 

That  Carthage  should  continue  to  hold  in  Africa  all  that 
she  had  possessed  before  the  war,  and  be  governed  by  her 
own  laws  and  institutions  : 

That  she  should  make  immediate  restitution  of  all  Roman 
ships  or  other  ell'ects  taken  in  violation  of  the  late  truce: 

Should  release  or  deliver  up  all  captives,  deserters,  or 
fugitive  slave.s,  taken  or  received  during  any  part  of  the 
war: 

Surrender  the  whole  of  her  fleet,  savin/?  ten  galleys  of 
three  tier  of  oars : 

Deliver  up  ail  the  elephants  she  then  had  in  the  stalls  of 
the  republic,  and  refrain  irom  taming  or  breaking  anymore 
cf  those  animals: 


92  HISTORY  OF  THfi  TB.  L 

That  she  should  not  make  war  on  any  nation  whatever 
without  consent  of  the  Romans : 

That  she  should  indemnify  Massinissa  for  a»l  the  losses  he 
had  sustained  in  the  late  Avar: 

And,  to  reimburse  the  Romans,  pay  a  sum  of  ten  thousand 
talents,  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  talents  a  year  for  fifty 
years : 

That  the  state  should  give  hostages  for  the  performance 
of  these  several  articles,  such  as  Scipio  should  select  from 
the  noblest  families  of  Carthage  not  under  fourteen,  nor 
exceeding  thirty  years  of  age. 

And  that,  until  this  treaty  should  be  ratified,  they  should 
supply  the  Roman  forces  in  Africa  with  pay  and  provisions. 

When  these  conditions  were  reported  in  the  senate  of 
Carthage,  one  of  the  members  arose,  and  in  terms  of  indig- 
nation, attempted  to  dissuade  the  acceptance  of  them :  but 
Hannibal,  with  the  tone  of  a  master,  interrupted  and  com- 
manded him  silence.  This  action  was  resented  by  a 
general  cry  of  displeasure ;  and  Hannibal,  in  excuse  of  his 
rashness,  informed  the  senate,  that  he  had  left  Carthage  while 
yet  a  child  of  nine  years  old ;  that  he  was  now  at  the  age  of 
forty-five;  and,  after  a  life  spent  in  camps  and  military 
operations,  returned  for  the  first  time  to  bear  his  part  in 
political  counsels ;  that  he  hoped  they  would  bear  with  his 
inexperience  in  matters  of  civil  form,  and  regard  more  the 
tendency  than  the  manner  of  what  he  had  done ;  that  he  was 
sensible  the  proposed  terms  of  peace  were  unfavourable,  but 
he  knew  not  how  else  his  country  Avas  to  be  /escued  from 
her  present  difficulties ;  he  wished  to  reserve  h^r  for  a  time 
in  which  she  could  exert  her  resolution  with  more  advantage. 
He  hoped  that  the  senate  would,  in  the  present  extremity, 
accept,  without  hesitation,  and  even  without  consulting  the 
people,  conditions  which,  though  hard,  were  notwithstand- 
ing, less  fatal  to  the  commonwealth  than  any  one  could  have 
hoped  for  in  the  night  that  followed  the  battle  of  Zama. 

The  conditions  were  accordingly  accepted,  and  deputies 
were  sent  to  Rome  with  concessions,  which  in  some  measure 
stripped  the  republic  of  her  sovereignty.  The  ratification  of 
the  treaty  was  remitted  to  Scipio,  and  the  peace  concluded 
on  the  terms  he  had  prescribed.* 

Four  thousand  Roman  captives  were  instantly  released  : 
five  hundred  galleys  were  delivered  up  and  burned :  the  first 
payment  of  two  hundred  talents  was  exacted,  and,  under  the 
execution  of  this  article,  many  members  of  the  Carthaginian 
senate  were  in  tears.  Hannibal  was  observed  to  smile,  and 

*  U.  C.  552. 


CH.  VI.]  nuiuAw  nu,r  um.iv-.    '  93 

being  questioned  on  this  insult  to  the  public  distress,  made 
answer,  that  a  smile  of  scorn  tor  those  who  felt  not  the  loss 
of  their  country,  until  it  altected  their  own  interest,  was  an 
expression  of  sorrow  for  Carthage. 


CHAP.  VI. 

Stale  of  Rome  at  the  Peace  with  Carthage—  Wart  with  the  Gault—With  the 
Macedonian* — Battle  of  CynocephaUe — Peace—  Freednm  to  Greece— Pre- 
lude* to  the  War  with  Antiochut— Flight  of  Hannibal  to  that  Prince— 
Antiochus  passes  into  Europe — Dispotitions  made  by  the  Roman*— Flight 
of  Antiochut  to  Aria — His  Defeat  at  the  Mountain*  of  Sipylut— Peace 
and  Settlement  of  Atia—Courte  of  Roman  Affair*  at  Home,  ffc. 

IN  the  course  of  the  war,  which  terminated  in  so  distin- 
guished a  superiority  of  the  Roman  over  the  Carthaginian 
republic,  the  victors  had  experienced  much  greater  distress 
than  had,  even  in  the  last  stage  of  the  conflict,  fallen  to  the 
share  of  the  vanquished.  The  greater  part  of  their  territory, 
during  a  series  of  years,  lay  waste;  was  ruined  in  its  habi- 
tations, plundered  of  its  slaves  and  its  cattle,  and  deserted 
of  its  people.  The  city  itself  was  reduced  to  a  scanty  suppl  y 
of  provisions  that  threatened  immediate  famine.  The  num- 
bers of  the  people  on  the  rolls,  either  by  desertion  or  by  the 
sxvord  of  the  enemy,  uncommonly  fatal  in  such  a  series 
of  battles,  were  reduced  from  two  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  to  nearly  the  half. 

In  the  musters  and  levies,  no  less  than  twelve  colonies  at 
once  withheld  their  names,  and  refused  their  support.  Yet, 
/roof  against  the  whole  of  these  sufferings,  the  Romans  main- 
tained the  conflict  with  a  resolution,  which  seemed  to  imply, 
that  they  considered  the  smallest  concession  as  equivalent  to 
ruin.  In  the  further  exertion  of  this  unconquerable  spirit, 
\\-li  en  the  pressure  of  this  war  was  removed,  tlieir  fortunes  ros 
••>  ;\  fl  ood  of  prosperity  and  greatness,  proportioned  to  the  low 
.M.II  to  which  they  seemed  to  have  fallen  in  the  course  of  it. 
The  y  joined,  in  Sicily,  to  their  former  possessions,  tke  city 
t  Syracuse,  and  the  whole  kingdom  of  Hiero.  In  Spain, 
,»•>'  succeeded  to  all  the  possessions,  to  all  the  claims  and 
'ivtensions  of  Carthage,  and  became  masters  of  all  that  ha 
M-t'ii  the  subject  of  dispute  in  the  war.  They  brought 
C:ir  thage  herself  under  contribution,  and  reduced  her  almost 
to  the  state  of  a  province. 

On  the  side  of  Macedonia  and  Illyricum,  in  their  treaty 
with  Philip  and  his  allies,  they  retained  to  themselves  con- 
iiderable  Dledaros.  not  onlv  of  Ror.uritv,  but  of  power  •  and 


91  111HTOKY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

began  to  be  considered  in  the  councils  of  Greece,  as  the  prin- 
cipal arbiters  of  the  fortunes  of  nations. 

In  Italy,  where  their  progress  was  still  of  greater  conse- 
quence, they  became  more  absolute  masters  than  they  had 
been  before  the  war.— The  canton?,  which,  in  so  general  a 
defection  of  their  other  allies,  had  continued  faithful  to  them, 
were  fond  of  the  merit  they  had  acquired,  and  were  con- 
firmed in  their  attachment  by  the  habits  of  zeal  which  they 
had  exerted  in  so  prosperous  a  cause.  Those,  on  the  con- 
trary, who  had  revolted,  or  withdrawn  their  allegiance, 
were  reduced  to  a  state  of  submission  more  entire  than  they 
had  formerly  acknowledged ;  and  the  sovereignty  of  this 
whole  country  being,  till  now,  precarious  and  tottering, 
derived,  from  the  very  storm  which  had  shaken  it,  stability 
and  force. 

The  Romans,  being  altogether  men  of  the  sword,  or  of 
the  state,  made  no  application  to  letters  or  sedentary  occu- 
pations. They  had  hitherto  no  historian,  poet,  or  philoso- 
pher ;  and  it  was  only  now,  that  any  taste  began  to  appear 
for  the  compositions  of  such  authors.  Fabius,  Ennius,  and 
Cato,  became  the  first  historians  of  their  country,  and  raised 
the  first  literary  monuments  of  genius  that  were  to  remain 
with  posterity. 

The  inclination  which  now  appeared  for  the  learning  of 
the  Greeks  was,  by  many,  considered  as  a  mark  of  degen- 
eracy, and  gave  rise  to  the  never-ending  dispute,  which,  in 
this  as  in  other  nations-,  took  place  between  the  patrons  of 
ancient  and  modern  manners.  The  admirers  of  ancient 
times,  being  attached  to  what  they  received  from  their  an- 
cestors, were  disposed  to  reject  every  new  improvement, 
a«d  seemed  willing  to  stop  the  progress  of  ingenuity  itself. 
The  gay,  and  the  fashionable,  on  the  other  hand,  liked  what 
was  new ;  were  fond  of  every  change,  and  would  ever 
adopt  the  latest  invention  as  the  model  of  propriety,  ele- 
gance, and  beauty. 

To  the  simplicity  of  the  Roman  manners  in  other  respects, 
and  to  the  ability  of  the  most  accomplished  councils  of  state, 
was  joined  a  very  gross  superstition,  which  led  to  many 
acts  of  absurdity  and  cruelty.  In  this  particular  it  appears, 
that  the  conceptions  of  men  are  altogether  unconnected 
with  their  civil  and  political,  as  well  as  military  character ; 
and  that  the  rites  they  adopt,  even  when  innocent,  and  the 
most  admissible  expressions  of  worship,  do  not  deserve  to 
be  recorded  for  any  other  purpose,  than  to  show  how  far 
they  are  arbitrary ;  and  how  little,  in  many  instances,  they 
are  directed,  even  among  nations  otherwise  the  most  ac- 
.tomplished,  by  any  rule  of  utility,  humanity,  or  reason. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  95 

The  peace  with  Carthage  was  introduced  with  some 
popular  acts  in  favour  of  those  who  had  suffered  remark- 
ably in  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  war.  Large  quan- 
tities of  com  that  had  been  seized  in  the  magazines  of  the 
enemy,  were  sold  in  the  city  at  a  low  price,  and  a  consider- 
able distribution  of  land  was  made  to  numbers  of  the  people 
in  reward  of  their  long  and  perilous  services. 

These  precedents,  however  reasonable  in  the  circum- 
stances from  which  they  arose,  were  the  sources  of  great 
abuse;  private  citizens,  in  the  sequel,  were  taught  to  rely 
on  public  gratuities,  and  were  made  to  hope,  that,  in  tho 
midst  of  sloth  and  riot,  they  might  subsist  without  care,  and 
without  industry.  Soldiers  were  taught  to  expect  extra- 
ordinary rewards  for  ordinary  services;  and  ambitious 
leaders  were  instructed  how  to  transfer  the  affection  and 
the  hopes  of  the  legions  from  the  republic  to  themselves. 

The  treaty  with  Carthage,  while  it  terminated  the  prin 
cipal  war  in  which  the  Romans  were  engaged,  left  them 
at  leisure  to  pursue  a  variety  of  quarrels,  which  still  re- 
mained on  their  hands,  rather  than  bestowed  entire  peace. 
The  Insubres,  and  other  Gaulish  nations  on  the  Po,  although 
they  had  not  taken  the  full  advantage,  which  the  presence 
of  Hannibal  in  Italy  might  have  given  them  agaiffst  the 
Romans,  were  unable  to  remain  at  peace,  and  were  unwil- 
ling to  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  any  nation  over 
their  own.  Having  a  Carthaginian  exile,  of  the  name  of 
Hamilcar,  at  their  head,  they  attempted  again  to  dislodge 
the  colonies  of  Cremona  and  Placentia ;  and,  on  that  side, 
with  various  events  for  some  years,  furnished  occupation 
to  the  arms  of  the  republic. 

Philip,  notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  peace,  which,  about 
three  years  before,  he  had  concluded  with  the  Romans,  had 
lately  supplied  the  Carthaginians  with  an  aid  of  four  thou- 
sand men,  and  a  sum  of  money.  Of  the  men  he  had  sent  to 
the  assistance  of  Carthage,  many  had  been  taken  at  the 
r>attle  of  Zama,  and  detained  as  captives.  Trusting,  how- 
ever, to  the  authority  of  his  crown,  he  sent,  during  the 
<Iependance  of  the  treaty  between  the  Romans  and  Cartha- 
ginians, a  message  to  demand  the  enlargement  of  those 
Macedonian  captives.  To  this  message  the  senate  replied 
with  disdain,  that  the  king  of  Macedonia  appeared  to  desire 
a  war  and  should  have  it.  The  people,  nevertheless, 
wearied  and  exhausted  with  the  late  contest,  eajfuged  in 
this  war  with  uncommon  reluctance.  Philip,  from  bein^r 
the  head  of  a  free  confederacy,  in  which  the  Acha-atid,  and 
many  other  states  of  Greece,  were  united,  aspired  to  be- 
come the  despotic  sovereign  of  that  country ;  and,  either  by 


96  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B   1. 

insinuation  or  force,  had  made  himself  master  of  most  pltcw 
of  consequence  round  the  JEgean  sea,  whether  in  Europe 
or  Asia.  Upon  the  death  of  Ptolemy  Philopater,  and  the 
succession  of  an  infant  son  of  that  prince  to  the  throne  oi 
Egypt,  Philip  had  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Antiochus, 
king  of  Syria,  to  divide  between  them  the  possessions  of 
the  Egyptian  monarchy ;  and,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  his 
more  distant  operations,  was  busy  in  reducing  the  places 
which  still  held  out  against  him  in  Greece,  and  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood. 

For  this  purpose  he  sent  an  army  with  orders  to  take  pos- 
session of  Athens,  and  was  himself  employed  in  the  siege 
of  Abydos.  The  Athenians  sent  a  message  to  Rome  to  sue 
for  protection ;  a  suit  which  the  Romans  readily  granted, 
and  the  officers,  yet  remaining  in  Sicily  at  the  head  of  the 
sea  and  the  land  forces  that  had  been  employed  against 
Carthage  had  orders,  without  touching  on  Italy,  to  make 
sail  for  the  coast  of  Epirus. 

The  consul  Sulpicius  was  destined  to  command  in  that 
country.  He  found,  upon  his  arrival,  that  Attnlas,  the  king 
of  Pergamus,  and  the  republic  of  Rhodes,  had  taken  arms 
to  oppose  the  progress  of  Philip.*  In  concert  with  these 
allies,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  Dardanians  and  other 
cantons  who  joined  him  on  the  frontiers  of  Macedonia,  the 
Roman  consul  was  enabled  to  relieve  and  to  protect  tho 
Athenians.  But  the  other  states  of  Greece,  though  already 
averse  to  the  pretensions  of  Philip,  and  impatient  of  his 
usurpations ;  even  the  Etolians,  though  the  most  determined 
opponents  of  this  prince,  seemed  to  be  undecided  on  this 
occasion,  and  deferred  entering  into  any  engagement  with 
the  Romans.  The  reputation  of  the  Macedonian  armies 
was  still  very  high;  and  it  was  doubtful,  whether  these 
Italian  invaders,  considered  as  an  upstart  and  a  barbarous 
power,  might  be  able  to  protect  the  states  that  declared  for 
them  against  the  vengeance  of  so  great  a  king. 

The  two  first  years  of  the  war  elapsed  without  any  de- 
cisive event.  Philip  took  post  on  the  mountains  that  sep- 
arate Epirus  from  Thessaly,  and  effectually  prevented  the 
Romans  from  penetrating  any  farther.  But,  in  the  third 
year,  Titus  Quintius  Flamininus,  yet  a  young  man  under 
thirty  years  of  age,  being  consul,  and  destined  to  this  com- 
mand, brought  to  an  immediate  issue  a  contest  which,  till 
then,  had  been  held  in  suspense. 

The  Roman  legion,  except  in  its  first  encounters  with 
Pyrrfius,  had  never  measured  its  force,  or  compared  its  ad- 

*  U.  C.  552. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  97 

vantages  with  any  troops  formed  on  the  Grecian  model,  and, 
to  those  who  reasoned  on  the  subject,  may  have  appeared 
greatly  inferior  to  the  Macedonian  phalanx.  One  presump- 
tion, indeed,  had  appeared  in  favour  of  the  legion,  that  both 
Pyrrhus  and  Hannibal  thought  proper  to  adopt  its  wea- 
pons, though  there  is  no  account  of  their  having  imitated 
the  line  of  battle,  or  form  of  its  manipules. 

The  phalanx  was  calculated  to  present  a  strong  and  im- 
penetrable front,  supported  by  A  depth  of  column,  which 
might  be  varied  occasionally  to  suit  with  the  ground.  The 
men  were  armed  with  spears  of  twenty-one  or  twenty- 
four  feet  in  length.  The  five  first  ranks  could  level  and 
carry  their  points  to  the  front  of  the  column.  The  remain 
der  rested  their  spears  obliquely  on  the  shoulders  of  those 
that  were  before  them ;  and,  in  this  posture,  formed  a  kind 
of  shed  to  intercept  the  missiles  of  the  enemy ;  and,  with 
their  pressure,  supported,  or  urged,  the  front  of  their  own 
column. 

When  Flamininus  arrived  in  Epirus,  Philip  received  him 
in  a  rugged  pass,  where  the  Aous  bursts  from  the  moun- 
tains that  separate  Epirus  from  Thessaly.  This  post  was 
strong,  and  could  be  defended  even  by  irregular  troops ; 
but  the  phalanx,  in  this  place,  had  none  of  its  peculiar  ad- 
vantages ;  the  Romans  got  round  it  upon  the  heights,  and 
obliged  the  king  of  Macedonia  to  retire.*  He  fled  through 
Thessaly,  and,  to  incommode  the  enemy  in  their  attempts 
to  pursue  him,  laid  waste  the  country  as  he  passed. 

The  flight  of  Philip  determined  the  Etolians  to  take  part 
in  the  war  against  him ;  and  the  Roman  general,  after  the 
operations  of  the  campaign,  being  to  winter  in  Phocis  on 
the  gulf  of  Corinth,  found,  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
Achaean  states  were  likewise  disposed  to  join  him.  He  took 
advantage  of  this  disposition,  and  got  possession  of  all  th</ 
towns  in  the  Peloponnesus,  except  Corinth  and  Argos, 
which  hitherto  had  been  in  alliance  with  the  enemy. 

In  the  following  spring,  Philip,  having  with  great  indus- 
try collected  and  disciplined  the  forces  of  his  kingdom, 
received  Flamininus  in  Thessaly.  The  armies  met  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Pherae;  but  the  country,  being  intei- 
spersed  with  gardens,  and  cut  with  plantations  and  hedges, 
•ixe  king  declined  a  battle,  and  withdrew.  Flamininus, 
knowing  that  he  had  magazines  at  Scotusa,  supposed  that 
he  was  gone  towards  that  place,  and  followed  by  a  route 
that  was  separated  from  that  of  the  king  by  a  ridge  of  hills. 
In  the  first  day's  march,  the  Romans  and  Macedonians  were 

*  U.  C.  645 


98  HISTORY  OF  THE  IB.  !• 

bid  from  each  other  by  the  heights ;  on  the  second  day  they 
were  covered  by  a  thick  fog,  which  hindered  them  from 
seeing  distinctly  even  the  different  parts  of  their  own  armies. 
The  scouts  and  advanced  parties  on  both  sides,  had,  about 
the  same  time,  ascended  the  heights,  to  gain  some  observa- 
tion of  their  enemy.  They  met  by  surprise,  and  could  not 
avoid  an  engagement.  Each  party  sent  for  support  to  the 
main  body  on  their  respective  armies.  The  Romans  had 
begun  to  give  way,  when  a  reinforcement  arrived,  that 
enabled  them,  in  their  turn,  to  press  on  the  enemy,  and  to 
recover  the  height  from  which  they  had  been  forced. 
Philip  was  determined  not  to  hazard  his  phalanx  on  that 
unfavourable  ground,  broken  and  interspersed  with  little 
hills ;  which,  on  account  of  their  figure,  were  called  the 
Cynocephalae.  He  sent,  nevertheless,  all  his  horse  and 
irregular  infantry  to  extricate  his  advanced  party,  and  to 
draw  them  off  with  honour.  Upon  their  arrival,  the  advan- 
tage came  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  Macedonians ;  and  the 
Roman  irregulars  were  forced  from  the  hills  in  the  utmost 
disorder.  The  cry  of  victory  was  carried  back  to  the  camp 
of  the  king.  His  courtiers  exclaimed  that  now  was  the 
time  to  urge  a  flying  enemy,  and  to  complete  his  advantage. 
The  king  hesitated,  but  could  not  resist  the  general  voice. 
He  ordered  the  phalanx  to  move ;  and  he  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  right  wing,  while  his  left  was  marching  in 
column,  had  arrived  and  formed  on  the  hill. — On  his  way  to 
this  ground,  he  was  nattered  with  recent  tracks  of  the  vic- 
tory which  had  been  gained  by  his  troops. 

Flamininus,  at  the  same  time,  alarmed  at  the  defeat  of  hi* 
light  infantry,  and  seeing  a  kind  of  panic  likely  to  spread 
through  the  legions,  put  the  whole  army  in  motion,  am. 
advanced  to  receive  his  flying  parties.  In  that  point  of  time 
the  fog  cleared  up,  and  showed  the  right  of  the  Macedonian 
phalanx  already  formed  upon  the  height. 

Flamininus  hastily  attacked  this  body,  and  being  unable 
to  make  any  impression,  gave  up  the  day,  on  that  quarter, 
for  lost.  But,  observing  that  the  enemy  opposite  to  his 
right  were  not  yet  come  to  their  ground,  he  instantly  re- 
paired to  that  wing,  and,  with  his  elephants  and  light  infan- 
try, supported  by  the  legions,  attacked  them  before  the 
phalanx  was  formed,  and  put  them  to  flight. 

In  this  state  of  the  action,  a  tribune  of  the  victorious 
legion,  being  advanced  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  as  they  fled 
beyond  the  flank  of  their  own  phalanx  on  the  right,  took 
that  body  in  the  rear ;  and,  by  this  fortunate  attempt,  in  so 
critical  a  moment,  completed  the  victory  in  all  parts  of  the 


L«.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  99 

From  this  field  the  king  of  Macedonia  fled  with  a  mind 
already  disposed  not  to  urge  the  fate  of  the  war  any  farther. 
He  retired  to  the  passes  of  the  mountains  that  surround  the 
valley  of  Tempe,  and  from  thence  sent  a  message  to  the 
Roman  general  with  overtures  of  peace. 

Flamininus  encouraged  the  advances  that  were  made  to 
him  by  Philip,  granted  a  cessation  of  arms,  gave  him  an 
opportunity  to  continue  his  applications  for  pence  at  Rome, 
and  forwarded  the  messenger  whom  he  sent  on  this  busi- 
ness. The  senate,  on  being  informed  that  the  king  of  Ma- 
cedonia cast  himself  entirely  on  the  mercy  and  justice  of 
the  Romans,  named  ten  commissioners  to  be  joined  with 
Flamininus,  and  to  determine,  in  presence  of  the  other  par- 
ties concerned  in  the  war,  what  were  to  be  the  terms  on 
which  peace  should  be  granted.* 

The  time  was  not  yet  come  for  the  Romans  to  lay  hold  of 
any  possessions  beyond  the  sea  of  lona.  They  had  passed 
into  that  country  as  the  protectors  of  Athens,  were  now 
satisfied  with  the  title  of  deliverers  of  Greece,  and  obliged 
the  king  of  Macedonia  to  withdraw  his  garrisons  from  every 
fortress  in  that  country,  leaving  every  Grecian  city,  whether 
of  Europe  or  Asia,  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  its  own  inde- 
pendence and  separate  laws. 

To  secure  the  effects  of  this  treaty,  they  obliged  him  to 
surrender  all  his  ships  of  war,  except  one  galley,  reduce 
his  ordinary  military  establishment  to  five  hundred  men, 
and  give  up  entirely  the  use  of  elephants. 

For  themselves,  they  desired  only  to  have  the  Romau 
captives  restored,  deserters  delivered  up,  and  a  sum  of  one 
thousand  talents  to  reimburse  the  expense  of  the  war. 

To  give  the  greater  solemnity  to  the  gift  of  liberty  which 
they  made  to  the  Grecian  states,  they  had  this  act  of  splen- 
did munificence  proclaimed  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  in 
presence  of  great  multitudes  from  every  part  of  Greece  met 
to  solemnize  the  ordinary  games;  and,  in  return,  were 
extolled  by  the  flatterers  of  their  power,  or  the  dupes  of 
their  policy,  as  the  common  restorers  of  freedom  to  man- 
kind. 

The  Romans  hastened  the  completion  of  the  treaty,  by 
which  they  disarmed  the  king  of  Macedonia,  upon  having 
received  information,  that  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria,  was  in 
motion  with  a  mighty  force,  and,  without  declaring  his  in- 
tentions, made  sail  towards  Europe.  This  prince  succeeded 
to  the  kingdom  of  Syria  a  few  years  before  Ptolemy  Philo- 
pater  began  to  reign  in  Egypt,  or  Philip  in  Greece;  and 

•  u.  c.  557. 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

was  nearly  of  the  same  age  with  those  princes.  In  his 
youth  he  waged  war  with  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  for  the 
possession  of  the  Celo-Syria,  an -i  with  the  Satraps  or  gover 
nors  of  his  own  provinces,  who  attempted  to  render  them- 
selves independent,  and  to  dismember  his  kingdom.  Hi* 
success  in  re-uniting  all  the  members  of  his  own  monarchy, 
put  him  in  possession  of  a  great  empire,  which  reached  from 
the  extremities  of  Armenia  and  Persia,  to  Sardis  and  the 
seas  of  Greece.  The  splendour  of  his  fortunes  procured  liim 
the  title  of  Antiochus  the  Great.  The  crown  of  Egypt  ha<* 
been,  for  some  time,  the  principal  object  of  his  jealousy  and 
of  his  ambition.  He  had  made  an  alliance  with  Philip,  iu 
which  the  common  object  of  the  parties  was  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  minority  of  Ptolemy:  but  he  was  not  aware, 
in  time,  how  much  the  king  of  Macedonia  stood  in  need  of 
his  support  against  the  Romans ;  or  how  much  it  was  his 
interest  to  preserve  that  kingdom  as  a  barrier  against  the 
encroachments  of  an  ambitious  people,  who  now  began  to 
direct  their  views  to  the  east.  He  advanced,  however, 
though  now  too  late,  by  the  coast  of  Asia  to  the  Hellespont, 
with  a  fleet  and  an  army  rather  destined  for  observation, 
than  for  any  decided  part  in  a  war  which  was  brought  to  o 
conclusion  about  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  those  parts. 

At  Lysimachia,  the  Roman  deputies,  who  were  charged 
with  the  adjustment  and  execution  of  the  late  treaty,  met 
with  Antiochus,  and  demanded  a  restitution  of  all  the  towns 
he  had  taken  from  Ptolemy,  enjoining  hjm  to  refrain  from 
any  attempts  on  the  freedom  of  Greece. 

To  these  requisitions  the  king  of  Syria  with  scorn  replied, 
That  he  knew  the  extent  of  liis  rights,  and  was  not  to  be 
taught  by  the  Romans:  that  they  were  busy  in  setting 
bounds  to  the  ambition  of  other  states,  but  set  no  bounds 
to  their  own ;  advised  them  to  confine  their  views  to  the 
affairs  of  Italy,  and  to  leave  those  of  Asia  to  the  parties 
concerned. 

During  the  conferences  which  were  held  on  these  sub 
jects,  the  parties  received  a  report  of  the  death  of  Ptolemy, 
tho  infant  king  of  Egypt ;  which,  though  incorrect,  occa 
sioned  the  return  of  Antiochus  into  Syria,  and  suspended 
for  some  time  the  war  which  he  was  disposed  to  carry  into 
Europe. 

Under  pretence  of  observing  the  motions  of  this  prince, 
the  Romans,  although  they  had  professed  an  intention  to 
evacuate  the  Greek  cities,  still  kept  possession  of  Deme- 
trias,  a  convenient  seaport  in  Thessaly,  and  of  Chalcis  on 
the  straits  of  Eubcea ;  and  Flamininus,  under  pretence  of 
restraining  the  violence  of  Nabis,  the  tyrant  of  Lacedemon, 


CH.  VI.J  ROMAN  UKPLHLIC.  101 

»ud  of  restoring  the  tranquillity  of  that  country,  itill  re- 
mained with  an  army  in  the  Peloponnesus. 

\Vliile  the  Romans  were  carrying1  their  fortunes  with  so  . 
high  a  hand  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  defeating  armies 
hitherto  deemed  invincible,  they  received  a  considerable 
check  in  Spain. 

That  country  had  been  recently  divided  into  two  pro- 
vinces; and,  though  now  possessed  by  the  Romans,  without 
the  competition  of  any  foreign  rival,  it  continued  to  be  held 
by  a  very  difficult  and  precarious  tenure,  that  of  force, 
opposed  to  the  impatience  and  continual  revolts  of  a  fierce 
ftnd  numerous  people. 

Spain  had  already  furnished  to  Italy  its  principal  supplies 
of  silver  and  gold.  At  every  triumph  obtained  in  that 
country,  the  precious  metals  were  brought  in  considerable 
quantities  to  the  treasury  of  Rome;  but  were  purchased 
for  the  most  part  with  the  blood  of  her  legions,  and  led  her 
into  a  succession  of  wars,  in  which  she  experienced  defeat 
as  well  as  victory.  About  the  time  that  Flamininus  had 
terminated  the  war  in  Macedonia,  the  Proconsul  Seinpro- 
nius,  in  the  nearer  province  of  Spain,  was  defeated  with  the 
loss  of  many  officers  of  rank.  He  himself  was  wounded  in 
the  action,  and  soon  after  died. 

Even  the  Roman  possessions  in  Italy  were  not  yet  fully 
recovered  from  the  troubles  that  had  arisen  in  the  time  of 
t.lie  late  war  with  Carthago.  The  Gaulish  nations  on  the 
I'o  still  continued  in  a  state  of  hostility.  The  slaves,  of 
which  the  numbers  had  greatly  increased  in  Etruria,  and 
other  parts  of  the  country,  being  mostly  captives  taken  from 
enemies  inured  to  arms  and  to  violence,  interrupted  thoir 
servitude  with  frequent  and  dangerous  insurrections.  Hav- 
ing persons  among  them,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  com- 
mand as  well  as  to  obey,  they  often  deserted  from  their 
masters,  formed  into  regular  bodies,  and  encountered  tho 
armies  of  the  republic  in  battle. 

The  state,  nevertheless,  though  still  occupied  in  this  man- 
ner  with  petty  enemies  and  desultory  wars,  never  lost  sight 
of  the  great  objects  of  its  jealousy,  from  whom  were  to  he 
apprehended  a  more  regular  opposition,  and  better  con- 
certed designs  against  its  power.  Among  these,  the  Car- 
thaginians were  not  likely  to  continue  longer  at  peace  than 
until  they  recovered  their  strength,  or  had  the  prospect  of 
some  powerful  support. — Antiochus,  possessed  of  all  the 
resources  of  Asia,  was  ready  to  join  with  this  or  any  other 
state  that  was  incline</  to  check  the  advancement  of  the 
Roman  power. 
About  a  year  after  the  conrlu-i'ni  of  the  war  with  Philip. 


102  '  IIISTbRt  OF' THE  [B.  1. 

the  Romans  received  intelligence,  that  the  Carthaginians 
had  entered  into  a  correspondence  with  Antiochus ;  and  as 
their  supposed  implacable  enemy,  Hannibal,  was  then  in  one 
of  the  first  offices  of  state  at  Carthage,  it  was  not  doubted, 
that  the  secret  intrigues  of  those  parties  were  hostile  to 
Rome.*  It  was  determined,  therefore,  to  send  a  proper 
commission  into  Africa,  under  pretence  of  an  amicable 
mediation,  in  some  differences  that  subsisted  between  Mas- 
einissa  and  the  people  of  Carthage ;  but  with  injunctions  to 
the  commissioners  to  penetrate,  if  possible,  the  designs  of 
the  Carthaginians;  and,  if  necessary,  to  demand  that  Han- 
nibal, the  supposed  author  of  a  dangerous  conspiracy  against 
the  peace  of  both  the  republics,  should  be  delivered  up. 

This  great  man,  from  the  termination  of  the  late  war, 
had  acquitted  himself  in  the  political  departments,  to  which 
he  had  been  appointed,  with  an  integrity  and  ability  worthy 
of  Ms  high  reputation  as  a  soldier ;  but  his  reformations  in 
a  corrupted  state  had  procured  him  enemies  at  home,  not 
less  dangerous  than  those  he  had  •ncountered  abroad. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Roman  deputies,  he  suspected 
that  the  commission  regarded  himself,  and  made  no  doubt 
that  a  faction  whose  ambition  he  had  restrained,  and  many 
particular  persons  whom  he  had  recently  incensed  by 
the  reformation  of  certain  abuses  in  which  they  were  in- 
terested, would  gladly  seize  that  opportunity  to  rid  them- 
selves of  a  powerful  enemy,  and  from  fear  or  some  other 
motives,  prevail  on  a  corrupted  people  to  deliver  him  up  to 
the  Romans.  It  is  said,  that  he  had  been  long  prepared  for 
an  emergence  of  this  sort,  and,  without  any  embarrassment, 
appeared,  upon  the  arrival  of  these  messengers,  in  all  the 
functions  of  his  public  character ;  but  at  night  withdrew  to 
the  coast,  and  set  sail  for  Asia.  He  was  received  by  Antio- 
chus at  Ephesus,  and  treated  as  a  person  worthy  to  direct 
the  councils  of  a  great  king. 

Flamininus  had,  during  the  greater  part  of  this  interval, 
remained  in  Greece,  and  had  been  occupied  in  settling  the 
affairs  of  that  country.  He  made  war  at  the  same  time 
against  Nabis  the  tyrant  of  Lacedemon ;  and  obliged  hirn 
to  evacuate  Argos,  and  to  cede  all  his  possessions  on  the 
coast.  By  these  means  he  removed  all  the  dangers  with 
which  any  of  the  states  of  the  Achean  league  had  been 
threatened,  and  restored  them  to  the  full  possession  of  their 
freedom. 

To  leave  no  ground  of  jealousy  or  distrust  in  Greece, 
Flamininus  persuaded  the  Roman  commissioners  to  ev&»/u- 


VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC  103 

ate  Demetrias,  Chalcis,  and  Corinth,  which  they  were  dis- 
posed to  retain  in  the  prospect  of  a  war  Avith  Antiochus ; 
and  having  thus  concluded  the  affairs  that  were  intrusted 
to  him,  he  returned  into  Italy,  and  made  his  entry  at  Rome 
in  a  triumphal  procession,  which  lasted  three  days,  with  a 
splendid  display  of  spoils,  captives,  and  treasure. 

All  the  troubles  of  Greece,  at  the  departure  of  Flamin- 
inus,  seemed  to  be  composed ;  these  appearances,  however, 
were  but  of  short  duration.  Nabis  was  impatient  under  his 
late  concessions;  and  flattering  himself  that  the  Romans 
would  not  repass  the  sea  merely  to  exclude  him  from  the* 
possession  of  afew  places  of  little  consequence  on  the  coast  of 
the  Peloponnesus,  began  to  employ  insinuation,  corruption, 
and  open  force,  in  order  to  recover  the  towns  he  had  lost.  In 
this  design  he  was  encouraged  by  the  Etolians,  who  flattered 
him  with  the  hopes  of  support,  not  only  from  themselves, 
hut  likewise  from  Antiochus,  and  even  from  Philip;  all  of 
xvlioU  had  an  evident  interest  in  repressing  the  growing 
power  of  the  Italian  republic.  The  Etolians  had  expected, 
at  the  close  of  the  war  with  Philip,  to  come  into  the  place 
of  that  prince,  as  the  head  of  all  the  Grecian  confederacies, 
and  to  have  a  principal  share  in  the  spoils  of  his  kingdom. 
They  urged  the  Roman  commissioners  to  the  final  suppres- 
sion of  that  monarchy ;  and,  being  disappointed  in  all  their 
hopes,  complained  of  the  Romans,  as  bestowing  upon  others 
the  fruits  of  a  victory  which  had  been  obtained  chiefly  by 
their  means,  and  as  having,  under  the  pretence  of  setting 
the  Greeks  at  liberty,  reduced  that  country  into  a  weak  and 
disjointed  state,  which  might  in  any  future  period  render  it 
an  easy  prey  to  themselves. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  with  Philip,  Antiochus 
thinking  himself  by  the  effect  of  that  treaty  aggrieved,  in 
respect  to  the  freedom  granted  to  some  cantons  in  Thrace, 
on  which  he  derived  a  claim  from  his  ancestors,  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  Rome  with  remonstrances  on  that  subject.  Tho 
Romans  made  answer,  In  the  capacity  which  they  had 
assumed  of  the  deliverers  of  Greece,  that  they  would  oppose 
every  attempt  to  enslave  any  Grecian  settlement;  and  as 
they  had  no  designs  on  Asia,  they  expected  that  the  king 
of  Syria  would  not  intermeddle  in  the  concerns  of  Europe. 
While  they  gave  this  answer  to  the  ambassador  of  Antio- 
ehiu,  they  resolved,  under  pretence  of  treating  with  the 
king,  to  send  commissioners,  in  their  turn,  to  observe  liis 
motions. 

At  tliis  time  it  became  known  that  Antioclius  was  medi- 
tating the  invasion  of  Italy  as  well  as  of  Gropt-e ;  that  the 
first  of  these  objects  was  to  be  committed  to  Hannibal,  who 


101  HISTORY  OF  THE  IB.  L 

jndertook  to  prevail  on  the  republic  of  Carthage  to  take  a 
principal  share  in  the  war  ;  and  that,  for  this  purpose,  he 
had  sent  a  proper  person  to  concert  measures  with  his  party 
at  Carthage  :  but  the  intrigue  being  discovered,  the  Cartho- 
ginians,  in  order  to  exculpate  themselves,  sent  an  account 
of  it  to  Rome. 

Before  this  intelligence  had  been  received,  the  Roman 
commissioners  were  set  out  for  Asia.  They  had  an  audi- 
?nce  of  the  king  of  Syria  at  Apamea,  and  a  conference 
afterwards,  on  the  object  of  their  commission,  with  a  prin- 
cipal officer  of  liis  court  at  Ephesus. 

The  deputies  of  the  cities  whose  interest  was  in  question 
were  also  present  at  these  conferences,  and  each  pleaded  the 
cause  of  his  country.  In  the  mean  time  the  Romans  were 
preparing  for  hostilities.  Under  pretence  of  repressing  the 
violences  committed  by  Nabis,  they  ordered  one  army  into 
Greece,  and  stationed  a  second  on  the  coast  of  Calabria  and 
Apulia,  in  order  to  support  the  operation  of  the  first.  They 
had  reason  to  consider  the  Etolians  as  enemies,  and  even  to 
distrust  the  intentions  of  many  of  the  republics  lately  re- 
stored to  their  liberty;  and  sent  a  fresh  commission  into 
Greece,  requiring  those  who  were  named  in  it  to  act  under 
the  direction  of  Flamininus. 

The  Etolians  had  already  invited  Antiochus  to  pass  into 
Europe.  The  measure  was  accordingly  under  deliberation 
in  the  council  of  tliis  prince.  Hannibal  warmly  recom- 
mended the  invasion  of  Italy  as  the  most  effectual  blow  that 
could  be  struck  at  the  Romans.  He  made  an  offer  of  him- 
self for  this  service,  demanding  a  hundred  galleys,  ten  thou- 
sand foot,  and  a  thousand  horse.  With  this  armament  he 
proposed  to  present  himself  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and, 
from  what  further  reinforcements  or  supplies  he  conkl 
derive  from  Carthage,  to  effect  his  descent  upon  Italy. 

These  counsels,  however,  were  given  in  vain.  Hannibal, 
as  a  person  likely  to  reap  all  the  glory  of  every  service  in 
\vhich  he  bore  any  part,  was  become  an  object  of  jealousy 
to  the  court  of  Antiochus,  and  to  the  king  himself.  His  ad 
vice  being  received  with  more  aversion  than  respect,  served 
to  determine  the  king  against  every  measure  he  proposed. 
Flattered  with  great  expectations,  Antiochus  set  sail  for 
Europe  with  ten  thousand  foot,  some  elephants,  and  a  body 
of  horse.*  He  was  received  at  Demetrias  with  acclama- 
tions of  joy;  but  soon  after,  in  the  sequel,  came  to  •under- 
stand that  his  allies  in  fchat  country  had  sent  for  him  to  bear 
\he  burden  of  the  war,  and  were  devising  how  they  should 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  105 

reap  for  themselves  the  advantages  that  might  be  made  to 
arise  from  it. 

The  Etolians,  at  whose  instance  Antiochus  had  come  into 
Greece,  were  still  divided.  One  party  among  them  con- 
tended for  peace,  and  alleged  that  the  presence  of  the  king 
of  Syria  was  a  fortunate  circumstance,  as  it  might  give 
them  an  opportunity  to  negotiate  with  greater  advantage. 
Another  party  contended  for  immediate  war ;  insisting  that 
force  alone  could  obtain  any  equitable  terms  from  such  a 
party  as  that  they  had  to  do  with. 

The  resolution  for  war  with  the  Romans  was  taken  in 
this  assembly(  and  Autiochus  was  declared  head  of  the 
confederacy  to  be  formed  for  mutual  support  in  the  con- 
duct of  it.  This  prince  endeavoured  to  obtain  a  declar- 
ation to  the  same  effect  from  the  Acheans  and  Beotians ; 
but  being  disappointed  in  his  application  to  those  states,  he 
left  part  of  his  forces  at  Demetrias,  and  he  himself  having 
negotiated  his  admission  at  Chalcis  on  the  Straits  of  Eu- 
bea,  retired,  as  if  he  had  come  to  act  upon  the  defensive, 
behind  the  Euripus,  and  established  his  court  at  that  place 
for  the  winter. 

Meantime  the  Romans  prepared  themselves  as  for  a 
struggle  of  great  difficulty,  and  probably  of  long  duration. 
They  considered  the  abilities  of  Hannibal,  employed  to  con- 
duct the  forces  of  Asia,  as  a  sufficient  ground  of  alarm. 
Their  first  object  was  to  guard  Italy  and  their  other  posses- 
sions. An  army  of  observation  was  for  this  purpose  sta- 
tioned at  Tarentum.  A  numerous  fleet  was  ordered  to 
protect  the  coast.  The  pretors  and  other  officers  of  state, 
with  proper  forces  under  their  command,  had  charge  of  the 
different  districts  of  Italy  that  were  suspected  of  inclining 
to  the  enemy,  or  of. being  disaffected  to  the  commonwealth. 

Having  made  these  dispositions  for  their  own  security, 
they  proceeded  to  form  an  army  which  was  to  act  offen- 
»ively,  and  to  fix  the  scene  of  the  war  in  their  enemy's 
country.  Bebius,  a  pretor  of  the  preceding  year,  umh'r 
pretence  of  opposing  Nabis,  who  had  renewed  the  war  in 
the  Peloponnesus,  had  already  passed  into  Epirus  with  a 
considerable  force.  Acilius  Glabrio,  one  of  the  consuls  of 
the  present  year,  to  whose  lot  this  province  had  fallen,  wad 
mderstood  to  have  in  charge  the  farther  preparations  that 
were  making  for  a  war  in  that  country,  and  hastened  the 
assembling  of  an  army  and  fleet  sufficient  to  disconcert  the 
measures  of  the  parties  that  were  supposed  to  be  forming 
against  the  Romans. 

The  equipment  of  the  fleet  was  retarded  by  a  dispute  that 
•rose  with  eight  of  the  maritime  colonies  or  seaports,  who 


106  HISTORY  OF  TI1K  [B.  I. 

pretended  to  a  right  of  exemption  from  thfe  present  service. 
But  their  plea,  upon  an  appeal  to  the  tribunes,  and  a  refer- 
ence from  them  to  the  senate,  was  overruled. 

Antiochus  passed  the  winter  at  Chalcis  in  a  manner  too 
common  with  princes  of  a  mean  capacity,  who  put  every 
matter  of  personal  caprice  on  the  same  footing  with  the 
affairs  of  state.  Having  in  the  spring  traversed  the  coun- 
try from  Beotia  to  Acarnania,  negotiating  treaties  witli 
petty  states,  he  had  passed  into  Thessaly,  and  had  besieged 
Larissa,  when  the  Roman  pretor  began  to  advance  from 
Epirus. 

After  the  contending  parties  had  thus  taken  the  field,  and 
the  armies  of  Rome  and  of  Syria  were  about  to  decide  the 
superiority  on  the  frontiers  of  Macedonia,  Philip  seemed  to 
remain  in  suspense,  having  yet  made  no  open  declaration  to 
wlu'ch  side  he  inclined.  The  princes  who  divided  the  Mace.- 
donian  empire  were  not  only  rivals  in  power,  they  were  in 
some  degree  mutual  pretenders  to  the  thrones  which  they 
severally  occupied;  Philip,  probably  considering  Antiochus, 
in  this  capacity,  as  the  principal  object  of  his  jealousy,  took 
his  resolution  to  declare  for  the  Romans ;  and  having  ac- 
cordingly joined  the  pretor  on  the  confines  of  Thessaly, 
their  vanguard  advanced  to  observe  the  position  and  mo- 
tions of  the  enemy. 

Antiochus,  upon  the  junction  of  these  forces,  thought 
proper  to  raise  the  siege  of  Larissa. — From  this  time  for- 
ward he  seemed  to  have  dropped  all  his  sanguine  expecta- 
tions of  conquest  in  Europe,  was  contented  to  act  on  the 
defensive,  and  when  the  Roman  consul  arrived  in  Epirus, 
and  directed  his  march  towards  Thessaly,  he  took  post  at 
the  Straits  of  Thermopylae,  intending  to  shut  up  this  pas- 
sage into  Greece :  but  being  dislodged  from  thence,  his  army 
was  routed,  the  greater  part  of  it  perished  in  the  flight,  ami 
he  himself,  with  no  more  than  five  hundred  men,  escaped  to 
Chalcis,  his  former  retreat  in  Eubea,  from  whence  he  soon 
after  set  sail  for  Asia. 

Upon  the  flight  of  Antiochus,  the  Etolians  alone  remained 
in  the  predicament  of  open  enemies  to  the  Romans.  They 
were  yet  extremely  irresolute  and  distracted  in  their  coun- 
cils. The  consul  advanced  into  their  country,  laid  siege  to 
Naupaetus,  and  having  reduced  that  place  and  the  whole 
nation  to  great  distress,  agreed  to  a  cessation  of  arms,  only 
while  they  sent  deputies  to  Rome  to  implore  forgiveness 
aud  to  make  their  peace  with  the  senate.  Such  was  the 
posture  of  affairs  when  Luc.- us  Cornelius  Scipio,  being 
elected  one  of  the  consuls  for  the  ensuing  year,  was  des- 
tined to  succeed  Acilius  Glabrio  in  Etolia;  and,  with  hit 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  107 

brother  Publius,  the  victor  in  the  battle  of  Zatna,  who  wai 
to  act  as  second  iii  command,  had  orders  to  prosecute  the 
war  against  the  kingdom  of  Syria. 

These  leaders  being  arrived  in  Greece,  and  intent  on  the 
removal  of  the  war  into  Asia,  willingly  accepted  of  the 
submission  of  all  the  towns  that  had  incurred  any  suspicion 
during  the  stay  of  Antiochus  in  Europe ;  and,  leaving  the 
difference  which  remained  to  be  settled  with  the  Etoliana 
in  a  state  of  negotiation,  they  proceeded  without  delay,  by 
the  route  of  Macedonia  and  Thrace,  towards  the  Helles- 
pont. 

The  fleets  of  Asia  and  Europe,  during  this  march  of  the 
Roman  army,  contended  for  the  command  of  the  seas.  That 
of  Europe,  which  was  joined  by  the  navy  of  Rhodes,  and 
oven  by  that  of  the  Carthaginians,  who,  to  vindicate  them- 
selves from  any  blame  in  the  present  war,  had  taken  part 
with  their  rival,  after  various  encounters,  obtained  the  vic- 
tory in  a  decisive  battle,  which  made  them  entire  masters 
of  the  sea,  and  opened  all  tlue  ports  of  Asia  to  the  shipping 
of  the  Romans. 

The  king  of  Syria  had  fortified  Sestos  and  Abydos  on  the 
Hellespont,  and  Lysimachia  on  the  isthmus  of  Chersonesus, 
with  an  apparent  resolution  to  dispute  the  march  and  pas- 
sage of  the  Scipios  at  all  these  different  stations,  but  on  the 
total  defeat  of  his  navy,  he  either  considered  those  places  as 
lost,  or,  fearing  to  have  his  forces  separately  cut  off  in  at- 
tempting to  defend  them,  he  withdrew  his  garrisons  from 
Lysimachia,  Sestos, and  Abydos;  and  while  he  thus  opened 
the  way  for  his  enemies  to  reach  him,  gave  other  signs  of 
despondency,  or  of  a  disposition  to  sink  under  adversity, 
making  overtures  of  peace,  and  offering  to  yield  every  point 
which  he  had  formerly  disputed  in  the  war.  In  reply  to 
these  offers  he  was  told,  that  he  must  do  a  great  deal  more ; 
that  he  must  submit  to  such  terms  as  the  Romans  were 
entitled  to  expect  from  victory. — But  as  he  continued  to 
assemble  his  forces,  he  chose  rather  to  stake  his  fortune  on 
the  decision  of  a  battle ;  and  having  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
make  himself  master  of  Pergamus,  the  capital  of  Eumenes, 
he  fell  back  on  Thyatira,  and  from  thence  proceeded  to  take 
jxist  on  the  mountains  of  Sipylus,  where  he  meant  to  con- 
tend for  the  empire  of  Asia. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Scipios  advanced  to  the  Hellespont, 
and  without  any  resistance  passed  the  Strait.  This  descent 
was  considered  by  the  Romans  as  an  epoch  of  great  re- 
nown ;  and  the  messenger  who  brought  the  accounts  of  it 
was  received  with  processions  and  solemn  rites.  Supplica- 
tions and  prayers  were  offered  up  to  the  gods,  t 


108  HISTORY  OF  TIIK  [B.  I. 

landing-  of  a  Roman  army  in  Asia  might  be  prosperous  for 
the  commonwealth.* 

Publius  Scipio,  the  famous  antagonist  of  Hannibal,  soon 
after  his  arrival  in  Asia,  was  taken  ill ;  or,  what  may  be 
supposed  for  his  honour,  being  desirous  not  to  rob  his 
brother  of  any  share  in  the  glory  which  he  perceived  was  t<? 
be  easily  won  against  the  present  enemy,  he  affected  indis- 
position, and  remained  at  a  distance  from  the  camp.  Lucius, 
thus  left  alone  to  command  the  Roman  army,  advanced 
upon  the  king,  attacked  him  in  the  post  he  had  chosen,  and, 
in  a  decisive  victory,  dispersed  the  splendid  forces  of  Asia, 
with  all  their  apparatus  of  armed  chariots,  horses,  and  ele- 
phants, harnessed  with  gold. 

Thyatira,  Sardis,  and  Magnesia  soon  after  opened  their 
gates  to  the  Romans ;  and  the  king  himself  by  a  messenger 
from  Apamea,  whither  he  had  fled,  again  made  haste  to  o\vn 
himself  vanquished,  and  to  sue  for  peace. 

The  Romans,  to  display  a  moderation  which  they  fre- 
quently affected  in  the  midst  of  their  victories,  renewed  the 
same  conditions  which  they  had  prescribed  on  their  arrival 
in  Asia;  and  a  cessation  of  arms  being  granted,  officers 
from  Antiochus,  and  from  all  the  other  parties  concerned 
in  the  approaching  treaty,  repaired  to  Rome,  in  order  to 
receive  the  final  decision  of  the  senate  and  people,  on  the 
future  settlement  of  their  affairs. 

Eumenes,  the  king  of  Pergamus,  on  this  occasion,  at- 
tended in  person,  and,  together  with  the  republic  of  Rhodes, 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  their  7.eaV  and  faithful 
services  in  the  late  war,  became  the  principal  gainer  in  the 
treaty. 

It  was  agreed  by  the  senate,  that,  according  to  the  articles 
already  prescribed  by  the  consul,  Antiochus  should  resign 
all  his  pretensions  in  Europe,  and  contract  the  boundaries 
of  his  kingdom  in  Asia  within  the  mountains  of  Taurus : 

That  he  should  pay  to  the  Romans,  at  successive  terms, 
five  thousand  talents  to  reimburse  the  expense  of  the  war : 

To  Eumenes  four  hundred  talents  on  the  score  of  a  debt 
that  had  been  due  to  his  father. 

And,  for  the  performance  of  these  conditions,  should  giv<3 
twenty  hostages,  such  as  the  Romans  should  name. 

In  the  farther  execution  of  this  treaty,  they  published  to 
all  parties  the  following  instructions,  as  the  basis  on  which 
the  commissioners  were  to  proceed : 

That  the  preliminaries  of  the  peace  with  Antiochoa 
already  offered  should  be  ratified : 


CH.  VI.]  llOaiAN  REPUBLIC.  109 

That  ?M  the  provinces  which  he  was  to  evacuate,  except 
Caria  and  Lycia,  were  to  bo  assigned  to  Eumenes : 

That  those  provinces  bounded  by  the  Meander  on  the  east, 
should  be  given  to  the  republic  of  Rhodes : 

That  all  the  Greek  cities  which  had  been  tributary  to 
Eumenes  should  continue  so,  and  all  which  had  been  tribut- 
ary to  Antiochus  should  be  set  free. 

A  settlement  was  accordingly  soon  after  made  in  Asia  on 
these  terms  ;  and  the  Romans,  while  they  were  hastening  to 
universal  dominion,  reser^d  nothing  for  the  present,  but  the 
supreme  ascendant  over  all  the  conquered  provinces  that 
were  given  away,  and  over  those  who  received  them.  The 
Etolians  were  now  the  only  parties  in  Greece  who  pretended 
to  hold  their  liberties,  or  their  possessions,  by  any  other 
tenure  than  that  of  a  grant  from  the  Romans. 

During  the  dependance  of  the  war  in  Asia,  the  Etolians 
were  making  continual  efforts  to  recover  their  own 
losses,  and  to  preserve  the  city  of  Ambracia,  then  besieged 
by  the  Romans ;  but,  upon  the  defeat  of  Antiochus,  the 
Ambraciots  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  the  Etolians  sued 
for  peace. 

While  the  Etolians  were  concluding  a  peace,  or  rather 
obtaining  a  pardon,  the  Consul  Manlius,  who  had  succeeded 
the  Scipios  in  Asia,  wiling,  if  possible,  to  bring  back  into 
Italy,  together  with  the  victorious  legions,  some  pretence 
of  a  triumph  for  himself,  led  his  army  against  the  Galatians. 
These  were  the  descendants  of  a  barbarous  horde,  which 
had,  some  ages  before,  migrated  from  the  north  of  Europe, 
visited  Italy  and  Greece  in  their  way,  and  stopped  on  the 
Halys  in  the  Lesser  Asia,  where  they  made  a  settlement, 
round  which  they  levied  contributions  quite  to  the  shores  of 
the  Euxine,  the  Mediterranean,  and  Egean  seas.  Their 
forces  had  lately  made  a  part  in  the  army  of  Antiochus,  and 
they  had  not  yet  acceded  to  the  peace  which  that  prince  had 
accepted.  By  these  means  they  furnished  the  Roman  con 
sul  with  a  pretence  for  invading  their  country ;  and  being 
unable  to  resist  him,  submitted  at  discretion. 

Thus  ended  the  first  expedition  of  the  Romans  into  Asia : 
in  the  result  of  which,  without  seeming  to  enlarge  their 
own  dominions,  they  had  greatly  reduced  the  powers  both 
of  the  Syrian  and  Macedonian  monarchies ;  and  by  restoring 
whether  from  inclination  or  policy,  every  state  to  its  inde. 
pendence,  they  had  balanced  a  multitude  of  parties  again* 
each  other,  in  such  a  manner,  as  that  no  formidable  combi 
nation  was  likely  to  be  formed  against  themselves ;  or  if  ar.v 
one,  or  a  few  parties,  should  presume  to  withstand  theil 
imwer,  many  othor*  \VPI-P  ready  to  join  in  the  cry  of  in^ru- 
L 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  L 

titudc.  and  to  tre-it  any  opposition  that  was  made  to  them 
as  an  unworthy  return  to  those  who  had  so  generously 
espoused  the  cause  of  mankind. 

The  pacification  of  Asia  and  Greece  left  the  republic  at 
leisure  to  manage  its  ordinary  quarrels  with  nations  unsub- 
dued on  the  opposite  frontier.  In  the  west,  hostilities  had 
subsisted  without  interruption,  during1  the  whole  time  that 
the  state  was  intcat  on  its  wars  in  the  east;  and  triumphal 
processions  were  exhibited  by  turns  from  those  opposite 
quarters.  « 

In  Spain  the  commanders  were,  for  the  most  part,  annually 
relieved,  and  the  army  annually  recruited  from  Italy.  The 
variety  of  events  which  are  mentioned,  and  the  continuance 
of  the  war  itself  are  sufficient  to  evince  that  no  decisive 
victories  were  obtained,  or  conquests  finally  made.  On  the 
coast  of  Spain  there  were  many  Greek  or  African  settle- 
ments established  for  commerce.  Of  these  the  Romans, 
either  as  having  supplanted  the  Carthaginians,  formerly  their 
masters,  or  as  having  subdued  the  natives,  were  still  in  pos- 
session. But  the  interior  parts  of  the  country  were  occu- 
pied by  many  hordes,  who  appear  to  have  been  collected  in 
townships  and  fortified  stations,  from  which  they  assembled 
to  oppose  the  Roman  armies  in  the  field,  or  in  which  they 
defended  themselves  with  obstinate  valour.  Though  often 
defeated,  they  still  renewed  the  contest.  Tiberius  Sempron- 
ius  Gracchus,  in  the  year  of  Rome  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
four,  about  ten  years  after  the  peace  with  Antiochus,issaid 
to  have  received  the  submission  of  one  hundred  and  three 
towns  of  that  country.  The  troubles  of  Spain  were,  never- 
theless, renewed  under  his  successors,  and  continued  to  oc- 
cupy the  Roman  arms  with  a  repetition  of  similar  opera- 
tions, and  a  like  variety  of  events. 

The  war  in  Liguria  was  nearly  of  the  same  description 
with  that  in  Spain  ;  continued  still  to  occupy  a  certain  part 
of  the  Roman  force ;  and,  both  before  and  after  the  late 
expedition  to  Greece  and  Asia,  was  for  some  years  the 
principal  employment  of  both  the  consuls.  Here,  however, 
the  Romans  made  a  more  sensible  progress  towards  an 
entire  conquest  than  they  made  in  Spain.  They  facilitated 
their  access  to  the  country  by  highways  across  the  mountains  : 
they  reduced  the  numbers  of  the  enemy  by  the  sword  and 
by  the  ordinary  distresses  of  war ;  and,  after  the  experience 
of  many  pretended  submissions  and  repeated  revolts  of  that 
people,  who  seemed  to  derive  the  ferocity  of  their  spirit,  as 
well  as  the  security  of  their  possessions,  from  the  rugged' 
and  inaccessible  nature  of  their  country,  it  \vn*  determined 
to  transplant  the  naM  VPS  to  some  of  thf  rnoiv  a«vr-ssi!>le  parts 


Cn.  VI J.]  KOMAN  REPUBLIC.  Ill 

(»["  Italy,  where  the  lands,  being  waste  from  the  effect  of 
former  wars,  were  still  unoccupied  and  at  the  disposal  of 
the  republic. 


CHAP.  VII. 

»Uc  of  Italy -Character  of  the  Roman  Policy—Death  of  Scipio  and  ,>/ 
Hannibal— Indulgence  of  the  Romant  to  the  King  of  Macedonia— Com- 
plaintt  against  Philip — Succetsion  of  Perseus,  and  Origin  of  the  War  — 
Action  on  the  Peneus— Overtures  of  Peace  — Pr  ogres*  of  the  War—Deft-at 
<v* Perseus  at  Lydna  by  Pavius  Emilias— Hisjlight  and  Captivity  — Set- 
liement  of  Macedonia  and  Illy ricum— Manners  oj  the  Romans. 

BY  the  methods  above  related  the  Romans  proceeded  to 
extend  their  dominion  over  all  the  districts  around  them, 
and  either  brought  to  their  own  standard,  or  disarmed, 
the  several  nations  who  had  hitherto  resisted  their  power. 
While  they  were  about  to  accomplish  this  end,  the  Trans- 
alpine Gauls,  still  having  their  views  directed  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  mountains,  made  some  attempts  at  migration 
into  Italy,  in  one  of  which  they  settled  a  party  of  the.. 
people  at  Aquileia.  The  Romans  were  alarmed  and 
ordered  these  strangers  to  be  dislodged  and  reconducted 
across  the  Alps. 

This  circumstance  suggested  the  design  of  securing  the 
frontier  on  that  side  by  a  colony ;  and  for  this  purpose  a 
body  of  Latins  was  accordingly  sent  to  Aquileia,  a  settle- 
ment which  nearly  completed  the  Roman  establishments 
within  the  Alps.  The  country  was  now,  in  a  great  measure, 
occupied  by  colonies  of  Roman  and  Latin  extraction,  who, 
depending  on  Rome  for  protection,  served,  wherever  they 
,vere  settled,  to  carry  the  deepest  impression  of  her  authori- 
ty, and  to  keep  the  natives  in  a  state  of  subjection  to  her 
government. 

The  domestic  policy  of  the  state,  during  this  period,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  orderly  and  wise  beyond  that  of  any 
other  time.  The  distinction  between  patrician  and  pleb- 
eian was  become  altogether  nominal.  The  descendants  of 
those  who  had  held  the  higher  offices  of  state,  were  in  con- 
sequence of  the  preferments  of  their  ancestors,  considered 
as  noble. 

The  authority  of  the  senate,  the  dignity  of  the  equestrian 
order,  and  the  manners  of  the  people,  in  general,  were 
guarded,  and,  in  a  great  measure,  preserved,  by  the  integri- 
ty and  strict  exercise  of  the  censorial  nower.  The  wi^Hot 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

*nd  the  most  respected  of  the  citizens,  from  every  condition 
were  raised  into  office ;  and  the  assemblies,  whether  of  the 
eenate  or  the  people,  without  envy,  and  without  jealousy, 
suffered  themselves  to  be  governed  by  the  counsels  of  a  few 
able  and  virtuous  men.  It  is  impossible  otherwise  to  account 
for  that  splendour  with  which  the  affairs  of  this  republic, 
from  the  time  of  the  first  Punic  war  to  that  of  the  last  wars 
with  Macedonia  and  Carthage,  though  committed  to  hands 
that  were  continually  changing,  were,  nevertheless,  uni- 
formly and  ably  conducted. 

The  spirit  of  the  people  was  in  a  high  degree  democratical. 
The  great  Scipio,  with  his  brother  Lucius,  on  their  return 
from  Asia,  encountered  a  prosecution,  unworthily  supported 
oy  a  popular  clamour,  which  brought  them  to  itrial  on  a 
formal  charge  of  secreting  part  of  the  treasure  receivea 
from  Antiochus.  At  his  citation,  Publius  Scipio  called  for 
the  paper  of  accounts,  on  which  he  had  entered  all  the  sums 
ne  had  received  in  Asia;  and,  while  the  people  expected 
that  he  was  to  satisfy  them  by  a  state  of  particulars,  he  tore 
the  scroll  in  their  presence  ;  and,  taking  the  privilege  of  a 
Roman  citizen,  retired,  Avithout  deigning  to  give  any  answer, 
and  went  as  an  exile  into  a  country  village  of  Italy,  whqre 
ne  soon  after  died. 

The  same  year  likewise  terminated  the  life  of  his  anta- 
gonist Hannibal.  This  great  man,  himself  a  sufficient  object 
of  jealousy  to  nations,  was,  by  an  article  in  the  late  treaty 
of  peace  with  Antiochus,  to  have  been  delivered  up  to  the 
Romans ;  and  had,  in  order  to  avoid  that  danger,  retired 
mto  Crete.  From  thence  he  took  refuge  with  Prusias,  king 
of  Bithynia,  where  the  enmity  of  Rome  still  pursued  him, 
and  where  an  embassy  was  sent  to  demand  that  he  should 
be  delivered  up.  As  soon  as  he  knew  that  this  demand  was 
actually  made,  and  that  the  avenues  to  his  dwelling  were 
secured  in  order  to  seize  Mm,  he  took  poison,  and  died. 

The  Romans  had  been  so  well  satisfied  with  the  part  which 
was  taken  by  Philip  in  the  late  war  with  Antiochus,  that 
they  released  his  son  Demetrius,  then  at  Rome,  a  hostage 
for  payment  of  the  father's  tribute,  of  which  they  likewise 
remitted  a  part.  They  continued  in  this  disposition  during 
four  years  after  the  late  peace  with  the  king  of  Syria ;  and, 
in  this  interval,  permitted  the  kingdom  of  Macedonia,  by 
the  improvement  of  its  revenue,  and  the  increase  of  its  people, 
in  a  great  measure  to  recover  its  former  strength.  These 
circumstances  of  prosperity,  did  not  fail  to  excite  apprehen- 
sion in  the  minds  of  all  those  who,  holding  independent  pop- 
sessions  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  on  complaints  agaimt 
Philip  being  made  at  Rome,  the  senate,  in  their  usual  form, 


Cn.  VII.]  UOMA.N    Ui;i'UliJLiC.  I  I  ,'i 

scut  a  select  number  of  their  members  to  make  inquiry  into 
the  real  state  of  affairs.  Before  a  tribunal  thus  constituted, 
the  Icing  of  Macedonia  was  cited  to  appear  as  a  private 
party,  first  at  Tempe,  to  answer  a  charge  of  the  Thessalians, 
and  afterwards  at  Thessalonica,  to  answer  one  from 
Eumenes.  After  a  discussion,  sufficiently  humbling  to  a 
sovereign,  he  received  sentence,  by  which  he  was  required 
to  evacuate  all  the  places  he  had  occupied  beyond  the  ancient 
limits  of  his  kingdom. 

A  second  commission  was  granted  to  see  the  sentence  of 
the  first  put  in  execution ;  and  as  soon  as  it  became  public- 
ly known,  that  the  Romans  were  willing  to  receive  com- 
plaints against  Philip,  and  were  disposed  to  protect  every 
person  who  incurred  Ms  displeasure,  the  city  was  crowded 
with  strangers,  and  the  senate  was  occupied,  from  morning  * 
to  night,  in  hearing  the  representations  that  were  made  by 
their  ailies  on  the  subject  of  the  usurpations  and  oppres- 
sions they  had  suffered. 

Philip,  to  divert  the  storm,  had  sent  his  younger  son,  De- 
metrius, to  answer  the  several  charges  which  were  expected 
to  be  brought  against  him ;  and,  in  the  end,  obtained  a 
resolution  of  the  senate  to  accommodate  matters  on  an 
amicable  footing.  This  resolution  was  grounded  on  pretence 
of  the  favour  which  the  Romans  bore  to  Demetrius,  who 
had  long  resided  as  a  hostage  in  their  city.  "  The  king 
will  please  to  know,"  they  said,  "  that  he  has  done  one  thing 
extremely  agreeable  to  the  Romans,  in  trusting  his  cause  to 
an  advocate  so  well  established  in  their  esteem  and  regard." 

This  language  of  the  Roman  senate  respecting  Demetrius, 
together  with  dangerous  suggestions  from  some  of  his  own 
confidants  probably  inspired  the  young  man  with  thoughts, 
or  rendered  him  suspected  of  designs,  injurious  to  the  rights 
of  Perseus,  his  elder  brother.  Tliis  prince  took  the  alarm, 
and  never  ceased  to  excite  the  suspicions  already  formed  in 
the  breast  of  the  father,  until  he  prevailed  in  securing  his 
own  succession  by  the  death  of  his  younger  brother. 

Philip,  having  ordered  the  execution  of  one  son  to  gratify 
the  jealousy  of  the  other,  lived  about  three  years  after  this 
action,  suffering  part  of  the  punishment  that  was  due  to  him 
on  that  account,  in  the  most  gloomy  apprehensions  of  danger 
from  his  surviving  son,  and  died  in  great  solicitude  for  the 
fate  of  his  kingdom. 

Perseus,  nevertheless,  in  ascending  the  throne  of  Mace- 
donia, gave  hopes  of  a  better  and  happier  reign  than  that  of 
his  predecessor.  He  was  immediately  acknowledged  by  the 
Romans;  and,  during  a  few  years  after  lib  accession, 
appeared  to  have  no  cause  of  disquietude  from  this  ueomu. 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  . 

Although  he  had  adopted  the  measures  of  his  father,  and 
endeavoured,  by  attention  to  his  revenue,  his  army,  and 
magazines,  and  by  forming  alliances  with  some  of  the  war- 
like Thracian  hordes  in  his  neighbourhood,  to  put  Ms  king- 
dom in  a  posture  of  defence,  and  in  condition  to  assert  its 
independence;  yet  he  appears  to  have  excited  less  jealousy 
in  the  minds  of  his  neighbours.  The  progress  which  he 
made  seems  to  have  escaped  the  attention  of  the  Romans 
until,  at  last  awakened  by  the  report  of  a  secret  corre- 
spondence which  he  carried  on  with  the  republic  of  Carthage 
they  thought  proper  to  send  a  deputation  into  Macedonia 
in  order  to  observe  his  motions. 

By  the  deputies  employed  in  this  service,  the  Roman* 
obtained  intelligence,  that  Perseus  had  made  advances  to 
the  Acheans  as  well  as  to  the  Carthaginians,  and  to  other 
states ;  and  was  likely  to  form  a  powerful  party  among  the 
Greeks. 

From  this  time  forward  the  leaders  of  the  Roman  coun- 
cils seemed  to  have  taken  a  resolution  to  remove  this  sub- 
ject of  jealousy,  and  to  suppress  the  Macedonian  monarchy. 

The  Roman  senate  had  already  granted  two  separate 
commissions,  the  one  of  a  deputation  to  visit  Macedonia, 
and  to  observe  the  motions  of  Perseus;  the  other  of  an 
embassy  into  Egypt,  to  confirm  their  alliance  with  Ptolemy. 
On  hearing  of  the  attempt  that  had  been  made  to  assassin- 
ate Eumenes,  they  directed  one  of  the  pretors,  Cams  Lici- 
nius,  with  a  proper  force  to  pass  into  Epirus. 

Perseus,  alarmed  by  the  arrival  of  a  Roman  force  in  his 
neighbourhood,  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  with  expostula- 
tions on  the  subject,  and  with  otters,  by  every  reasonable 
concession  that  the  senate  or  the  people  could  require,  to 
avert  the  storm  which  threatened  him.  But  the  Romans 
gave  intimation,  that,  if  for  the  future  he  should  have  any 
thing  to  offer,  he  might  have  recourse  to  the  commander  of 
the  Roman  army  in  Epirus. 

The  interview,  which  Perseus  soon  after  had  with  the 
Roman  commissioners,  terminated  with  the  strongest  signs 
of  hostility  on  both  sides.  The  king,  however,  having  taken 
minutes  of  what  passed  at  their  conference,  sent  copies  to 
all  the  neighbouring  states,  in  order  to  exculpate  himself  from 
any  guilt  in  the  approaching  war ;  and  as  the  event  after- 
wards showed  how  much  it  was  the  interest  of  every  state 
to  support  him,  he  being  the  only  power  that  could  give 
them  any  protection  against  the  Romans;  so  numbers, 
already  moved  by  this  apprehension,  were  inclined  to  favour 
his  cause.  The  Beotians  and  Epirots,  as  well  as  the  Illyriau ..., 
openly  declared  for  the  king  of  Macedonia. 


CH.  VII.]  HOMAN  REPUBLIC.  115 

These  circumstances  were  stated  at  Home  as  additional 
grounds  of  complaint  against  the  king ;  and  his  endeavours 
to  vindicate  the  part  he  had  acted,  were  considered  as 
attempts  to  form  a  hostile  confederacy  a  rainst  the  republic. 

Additional  fleets  and  armies  were  accordingly  assembled, 
and  directed  towards  Epirus;  and  a  declaration  of  war  wa-> 
issued  in  the  form  of  an  act  of  the  Roman  people. 

Macedonia  had  now  been  above  twenty  years  exempted 
from  any  signal  calamity,  had  re-established  its  armies,  and 
filled  its  magazines  and  its  coffers.  The  military  establish- 
ment amounted  to  forty  thousand  men ;  the  greater  part 
formed  and  disciplined  upon  the  plan  of  the  phalanx,  and 
supported  with  numerous  troops  of  'irregulars  from  the 
warlike  cantons  of  Thrace.  The  kinji  liim:*elf,  in  the  vigour 
of  manhood,  sensible  that  the  storm  r-.uld  not  be  diverted, 
affected  rather  to  desire  than  to  decli  ie  the  contest;  and, 
under  all  these  circumstances,  nation  *  seemingly  least  in- 
terested in  the  consequences  were  intent  on  the  scene  that 
was  about  to  be  opened  before  them. 

Eumenes,  supposed  to  be  incited  by  inveterate  animosity 
to  Perseus,  and  by  recent  provocations,  prepared  to  fulfil  his 
professions  in  behalf  of  the  Romans. 

Ariarathes,  the  king  of  Cappadocia,  equally  inclined  by 
uolicy  to  wish  for  a  counterpoise  to  the  Macedonian  power, 
rmt  having  recently  formed  an  alliance  by  marriage  with 
the  family  of  Perseus,  determined  to  be  neutral  in  the  war. 

Ptolemy  Philomater,  who  then  filled  the  throne  of  Egypt, 
was  a  minor.  Antiochus  Epiphancs,  who  had  lately  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  Seleucus,  in  the  kingdom  of  Syria, 
iiaving  been  some  time  a  hostage  at  Rome,  affected  in  his 
own  court  the  manners  of  a  Roman  demagogue ;  but  was 
chiefly  intent  on  his  pretensions  to  Celosyria,  which  he  hoped 
to  make  good  under  favour  of  the  approaching  conjuncture 
formed  by  the  minority  of  Ptolemy,  and  by  the  avocation 
of  the  Roman  forces  in  Greece. 

Tho  Carthaginians,  and  the  king  of  Numidia,  while  they 
severally  preferred  their  complaints  against  each  other  before 
tho  Roman  senate,  vied  likewise  in  their  professions  of  zeal 
for  the  Roman  republic,  and  in  their  offers  of  supply  of  men. 
horses,  provisions,  or  ships. 

Gentius,  the  king  of  lllyricmn,  had  incurred  the  jealous 
of  the  Romans;  but  remained  undetermined  what  part  !.« 
should  take. 

Cotys,  a  Thracian  king,  declared  openly  for  Ferseu*. 
The  people  of  Greece,  in  their  several  republics,  wen- 
divided  among  themselves.  The  popular  parties  In  general, 
being  desirous  to  exchange  the  government  of  their  owu 


!16  HISTORY  OF  TUB 

aristocracies  for  that  of  a  monarchy,  favoured  the  king  cf 
Macedonia.  The  leading1  men  wen*  either  incline  I  to  the 
Romans,  or  wished  to  balance  the  rival  powers,  so  as  to- 
have,  in  the  protection  of  the  one,  some  security  against  the 
usurpations  of  the  other. 

In  the  following-  summer,  about  seven  years  after  the 
accession  of  Perseus  to  the  throne  of  Macedonia,  the  war 
in  that  kingdom  being  committed  to  the  Consul  Licinius, 
this  general  followed  the  army  which  had  been  transported 
to  the  coast  of  Epirus ;  and  while  the  Roman  fleet,  with  their 
allies,  assembled  in  the  straits  of  Eubea,  the  armies  on  both 
sides  began  their  operations.  The  Macedonians  encamped 
at  Sycurium  on  the  declivity  of  mount  Ossa.  The  Roman 
consul  penetrated  into  Thessaly;  and  having  passed  the 
river  Peneus,  took  post  at  Scea,  twelve  miles  from  the  camp 
of  the  enemy.  Here  he  was  joined  by  Attalus,  brother  to 
the  king  of  Pergamus,  with  four  thousand  men,  and  by 
smaller  bodies  collected  from  different  states  of  Greece. 

Perseus  endeavoured  to  lay  waste  the  kingdom  of  Pherae, 
from  which  the  Romans  drew  the  greatest  part  of  their 
subsistence;  and  an  action  ensued,  in  which  the  whole 
cavalry  and  light  infantry  of  both  armies  being  engaged, 
the  Romans  were  defeated;  and  the  consul,  no  longer  able 
to  support  his  foraging  partits  on  that  side  of  the  Peneus 
against  a  superior  enemy,  decamped  in  the  night,  and  re- 
passed  the  river. 

Although  this  victory  had  a  tendency  to  raise  the  hopes 
of  the  king,  it  was  by  him  wisely  considered  as  a  fit  oppor- 
tunity to  renew  the  overtures  of  peace ;  and,  in  order  to 
bring  on  a  negotiation,  it  was  resolved,  that  the  conditions 
which,  under  the  misfortune  of  repeated  defeats,  had  been 
offered  by  his  father,  should  be  made  the  preliminaries  of 
the  present  treaty. 

The  Romans  treated  the  concessions  of  Perseus  with 
disdain,  haughtily  answering,  that  he  must  submit  at  dis- 
cretion. 

•  This  reply  was  received  at  the  court  of  Perseus  with 
extreme  surprise.  B  ut  it  produced  still  farther  concessions ; 
and  instead  of  resentment  from  the  king,  a  repetition  of  hi  a 
message  with  an  offer  to  augment  the  tribute  which  had 
been  paid  by  his  father. 

The  remainder  of  the  summer  having  passed  in  the  oper- 
ations of  foraging  parties,  without  any  considerable  action, 
the  Romans  retired  for  the  winter  into  Beotia.  On  this 
coast  the  fleet,  having  met  with  no  enemy  at  sea,  had  made 
repeated  descents  to  distress  the  inhabitants  who  had 
declared  for  the  kiner.  The  consul  took  possession  of  his 


-a.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  ]\f 

quarters,  without  any  resistance,  in  the  interior  parts  of  the 
country ;  and  in  this,  with  the  progress  that  was  made  by 
the  army  employed  on  the  side  of  Illyricum  in  detaching 
that  nation  from  Perseus,  consisted  the  service  of  the  first 
campaign. 

Licinius,  at  the  expiration  of  the  usual  term,  was  relieved 
by  his  successor  in  office,  A.  Hostilius  Marcius.  This  com- 
mander, being  defeated  and  baffled  in  some  attempts  he 
made,  to  penetrate  into  the  kingdom  of  Macedonia,  appears 
to  have  made  a  campaign  still  less  fortunate  than  that  of 
liia  predecessor ;  and  the  senate,  at  the  end  of  the  summer, 
having  ordered  lum  home  to  preside  at  the  annual  elections, 
sent  a  deputation  to  visit  the  army,  and  to  inquire  into  the 
cause  of  their  miscarriages,  and  the  slowness  of  their  progress. 

The  Romans,  although  they  had  experienced  disappoint- 
ments in  the  beginning  of  other  wars,  particularly  in  their 
first  encounters  with  Pyrrhus  and  with  Hannibal ;  and  had 
reason  to  expect  a  similar  effect  in  the  opening  of  the  present 
war,  appear  to  have  been  greatly  mortified  and  surprised 
at  this  unpromising  aspect  of  their  enterprise. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  war  the  legions  were  augmented 
from  five  thousand  two  hundred  foot  and  two  hundred  horse, 
to  six  thousand  foot  and  three  hundred  horse ;  and  probably, 
to  raise  the  authority  of  the  consul  more  effectually  into 
that  of  a  coinmander-in-chief,  he  was  commissioned  to  name 
the  tribunes,  as  well  as  the  centurions  of  the  army,  that 
were  to  serve  under  his  orders :  but,  upon  a  complaint  that 
this  extension  of  the  consul's  powers  did  not,  by  enforcing 
the  discipline  of  the  army,  serve  the  purpose  for  which  ic 
was  made,  the  people  resumed  their  right  of  election  in  the 
appointment  even  of  inferior  officers.  The  deputies,  now 
sent  into  Macedonia  by  the  senate,  returned,  and  communf. 
cated  their  report,  that  the  legions  employed  in  that  country 
were  extremely  incomplete,  numbers  both  of  the  lower 
officers  and  private  men  being,  by  the  dangerous  indulgence 
of  their  leaders,  suffered  to  absent  themselves  from  their 
colours. 

In  the  present  contest,  the  checks  of  the  first  and  the 
second  year  of  the  war,  though  extremely  mortifying  to  the 
Romans,  were  received  without  any  signs  of  irresolution, 
or  change  of  their  purpose.  In  the  third  y»ar  after  hostili- 
ties commenced,  the  command  of  the  army  in  Macedonia 
devolved  on  Q.  Marcius  Philippus,  who,  being  chosen  one 
of  the  consuls,  drew  liis  province  as  usual  by  lot.  Tlii* 
officer  had  been  employed  in  one  of  the  late  deputations  that 
were  sent  into  Greece ;  had  shown  liis  ability  in  the  course 
of  negotiations  which  uroceded  tho  war;  and  im\v,  hv  h>« 


118  HISTORY  OF  TUB  [B.  L 

conduct  as  a  general,  broke  tlirough  the  line  which  the  king 
kad  endeavoured  to  secure  the  passes  of  the  mountains,  and 
to  cover  the  frontier  of  his  kingdom.  But,  when  he  had 
penetrated  into  Macedonia,  he  found  himself  at  *he  end  of 
the  season,  and  for  want  of  proper  supplies  of  provisions  on 
that  side  of  the  mountains,  unable  to  pursue  the  advantage 
he  had  gained.  Here,  therefore,  he  staid  only  to  deliver  his 
army,  to  Emilius  Paullus,  who  had  been  named  to  succeed 
him.  This  was  the  son  of  that  Paullus,  who,  being  one  of 
the  consuls  who  commanded  the  Roman  army  at  Cannne, 
fhrevv  away  his  life  rather  than  survive  that  defeat.  The 
son  was  no\v  turned  of  sixty ;  and  by  the  length  of  his 
service,  and  the  variety  of  his  experience  in  Liguria  and 
Spain,  was  well  acquainted  with  the  chances  of  war. 

Emilius,  upon  his  arrival  in  Macedonia,  found  the  king 
intrenched  on  the  banks  of  the  Enipeus,  Avith  his  right  and 
left  covered  by  mountains,  on  which  ail  the  passes  v/ere 
secured. — After  some  delay,  during  which  he  was  employed 
in  observing  the  enemy's  disposition,  or  in  improving  the 
discipline  of  his  own  army,  he  sent  a  detachment  to  dispos- 
sess the  Macedonians  of  one  of  the  stations  which  they 
occupied  on  the  heights,  with  orders  to  the  officer  who  com- 
manded in  this  service,  that,  if  he  succeeded  in  it,  he  should 
fall  down  on  the  plain  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy ;  he  himself, 
in  the  mean  time,  made  a  feint  to  attack  them  in  front. 

The  post  on  the  heights  being  forced,  Perseus  relinquished 
his  present  disposition,  and  fell  back  towards  Pydna  on  ti:f 
banks  of  the  Aliacmon.  Here  it  became  necessary  for  him, 
either  to  hazard  a  battle,  or,  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the 
country  behind  him,  to  separate  his  forces. 

He  preferred  the  first,  and  made  choice  of  a  plain  that  was 
fit  to  receive  the  phalanx,  and  was  skirted  with  hills,  on 
wliich  his  light  troops  could  act  with  advantage. 

Here  too  the  Roman  consul  continued  to  press  upon  him, 
and  was  inclined  to  seize  the  first  opportunity  of  deciding 
the  war.  Both  armies,  as  by  appointment,  presented  them- 
selves on  the  plain  in  order  of  battle,  and  Emilius  Paullus 
seemed  eager  to  engage ;  but,  as  he  himself  used  to  confess 
having  never  beheld  an  appearance  so  formidable  as  when  the 
Macedonians  levelled  their  spears,  he  thought  proper  to  halt. 
Though  much  disconcerted,  he  endeavoured  to  preserve 
his  countenance,  and  would  not  recede  from  his  ground ; 
and  that  he  might  encamp  his  army  where  they  now  stood, 
ordered  the  first  line  to  remain  under  arms,  and  ready  to 
attack  the  enemy,  while  those  who  were  behind  them  began 
to  intrench;  having  in  this  manner  cast  up  a  breast- work 
of  considerable  strength,  he  retired  behind  it.  ami  under 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  JiKPUBI.  1C.  119 

that  cover  completed  the  fortifications  of  a  camp  in  the  usual 
form. 

In  this  position  he  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  draw  on 
an  engagement,  when  the  enemy  should  be  less  prepared 
to  receive  him,  or  not  have  time  to  avail  themselves  so  much 
of  that  formidable  order  which  constituted  the  strength  of 
the  phalanx. 

This  occasion  soon  afterwards  seemed  to  be  ottered  by  a 
skirmish,  which  happened  in  the  fields  between  the  two 
armies.  A  horse  having  broke  loose  from  the  camp  of  the 
Romans,  fled  to  wards  that  of  the  Macedonians,  was  followed 
by  the  soldiers  from  whom  he  had  escaped,  and  met  by  their 
enemy  from  the  opposite  camp.  These  parties  engaged, 
and  each  being  joined  by  numbers  from  their  respective 
armies,  brought  on  at  last  a  general  action.  The  ground 
was  favourable  to  the  phalanx;  and  the  Macedonians, 
though  hastily  formed,  still  possessed  against  the  Romans 
the  advantage  of  their  weapons,  and  of  their  formidable 
order.  They  filled  up  the  plain  in  front,  and  could  not  be 
flanked.  They  had  only  to  maintain  their  ground,  and  had 
no  occasion  to  discompose  their  ranks,  in  time  of  the  action, 
by  any  change  of  position.  They  accordingly  withstood 
\irith  ease  the  first  shock  of  the  Roman  legions;  but  were 
broken  and  disjointed  in  the  sequel  by  the  seemingly  irregu- 
lar attacks  which  wore  made  at  intervals  by  the  manipules, 
or  the  separate  divisions  of  the  Roman  foot.  The  parts. of 
the  phalanx  that  were  attacked,  whether  they  were  pressed 
in,  or  came  forward  to  press  on  their  enemy,  could  not  keep 
in  an  exact  line  with  tlw  oarts  that  were  not  attacked. 
Openings  were  made,  at  which  the  Roman  soldier,  with  his 
buckler  and  short  sword,  could  easily  enter.  Emilius,  ob- 
serving this  advantage,  directed  his  attack  on  those  places 
at  which  the  front  of  the  phalanx  was  broken ;  and  the 
legionary  soldier,  having  got  within  the  point  of  his  antagon- 
ist's spear,  pierced  to  the  heart  of  the  column,  and  in  this 
position  made  a  havock  which  soon  threw  the  whole  into  dis- 
order and  general  rout. 

Twenty  thousand  of  the  Macedonians  were  killed  in  the 
field,  five  thousand  were  made  prisoners  in  their  flight ;  and 
eix  thousand  that  shut  themselves  up  in  the  town  of  Pydna 
were  obliged  to  surrender  at  discretion. 

After  this  defeat,  tin-king  of  Macedonia,  withafew  attend- 
ants, fled  to  Pella,  where,  having  taken  up  his  children  and 
the  remains  of  his  trea>ure,  amounting  to  ten  thou-and 
talents,  or  about  two  millions  of  pounds  sterling,  he  continued 
his  flight  to  Amphipolis,  and  from  thence  to  Samothracia, 
where  he  took  refuge  in  the  famous  sanctuary  of  that  island. 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I. 

Emilias  pushed  on  to  Amphipolis,  receiving  the  submission 
of  all  the  towns  and  districts  as  he  passed.  The  pretor, 
Octavius,  then  commanding  the  Roman  fleet,  beset  the  island 
of  Samothracia  with  his  ships ;  and,  without  violating  the 
sanctuary,  took  measures  that  effectually  prevented  the 
king's  escape. 

This  unfortunate  prince,  with  some  of  his  children,  deliver- 
ed themselves  up  to  the  pretor,  and  were  conducted  to  the' 
camp  of  Emilias.  The  king  threw  himself  on  the  ground, 
and  would  have  embraced  the  victor's  knees,  when  the 
Roman  general,  with  a  condescension  that  is  extolled  by 
ancient  historians,  gave  him  his  hand,  and  raised  him  from 
the  ground. 

While  the  war  in  Macedonia  was  coming  to  this  issue,  that 
in  Illyricum  had  a  like  termination,  and  ended  about  the 
same  time  in  the  captivity  of  the  king. 

News  of  both  were  received  at  Rome  about  the  same 
time,  and  filled  the  temples,  as  usual,  with  multitudes  who 
crowded  to  perform  the  public  rites  of  thanksgiving,  that 
were  ordered  by  the  senate.  Soon  after  which,  embassies 
arrived  from  all  the  kings  and  states  of  the  then  known 
world,  with  addresses  of  congratulation  on  so  great  an  event. 
The  senate  proceeded  to  form  a  plan  for  the  settlement  of 
Macedonia. 

It  was  resolved  to  extinguish  the  monarchy,  to  divide  its 
territory  into  four  districts,  and  in  each  to  establish  a  repub- 
lican government,  administered  by  councils  and  magistrates 
chosen  by  the  people.  This  among  the  Greeks,  could  bear 
the  interpretation  of  bestowing  absolute  liberty.  Ten  com- 
missioners w?re  named  to  carry  this  plan  into  execution  in 
Macedonia,  and  five  were  appointed  for  a  similar  purpose 
in  Illyricum.  Emilius  was  continued  in  his  command,  and 
the  army  ordered  to  remain  in  Macedonia  until  the  settlement 
of  the  province  should  be  completed. 

A  like  plan  was  followed  with  respect  to  Illyricum,  which 
was  divided  into  three  districts ;  and  the  kings  both  of  Ma- 
cedonia and  of  this  country,  with  many  other  captives,  were 
conducted  to  Rome  to  adorn  the  triumph  of  their  conquerors. 

While  the  event  of  the  Macedonian  war  was  yet  unde- 
cided, and  no  considerable  advantage,  either  of  conduct  or 
fortune,  appeared  on  the  side  of  the  Romans,  they  still  pre- 
served the  usual  arrogance  of  their  manner,  and  interposed 
with  the  same  imperious  ascendant  in  the  affairs  of  Greece, 
Asia,  and  Africa,  that  they  could  have  done  in  consequence 
of  the  most  decisive  victory.  It  was  at  this  time  that,  by 
the  celebrated  message  of  Popilius  Lenus,  they  put  a  stop 
to  the  conquests  of  Antiochus  Eoiohanes  in  Egypt.  This 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  121 

prince,  trusting  to  the  full  employment  with  which  the  Roman 
forces  were  engaged,  had  ventured  to  invade  tlu's  kingdom, 
and  was  in  possession  of  every  part  of  it,  except  the  city  of 
Alexandria.  He  was  occupied  in  the  siege  of  this  place, 
when  Popiliua  arrived  and  delivered  him  an  order  of  the 
senate  to  desist.  The  king  made  answer,  That  he  would 
consider  of  it.  "  Determine  before  you  pass  this  line,"  said 
the  Roman,  tracing  a  circle  with  the  rod  which  he  held  in 
Ids  hand.  The  Romans  gave  orders  to  Emilius,  in  passing 
through  Epirus,  to  lay  that  country  under  military  execu- 
tion. Seventy  towns  were  accordingly  destroyed,  and  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  the  people  sold  for  slaves. 

The  senate  refused  to  admit  the  ambassadors  of  Rhodes, 
who  came  to  congratulate  the  Roman  people  on  their  victory 
at  Pydna ;  and  while  Eumenes  was  coming  in  person  to  pay 
his  court  to  the  senate,  they  resolved  to  forbid  the  concourse 
of  kings  to  Rome. 

They  in  reality,  from  this  time  forward,  though  in  the  style 
of  allies,  treated  the  Grecian  republics  as  subjects. 

Such  was  the  rank  which  the  Romans  assumed  among 
nations ;  while  their  statesmen  still  retained  much  of  their 
primeval  rusticity,  and  did  not  consider  the  distinctions  of 
fortune  and  equipage  as  the  appurtenances  of  power  or  of  high 
command.  Cato,  though  a  citizen  of  the  highest  rank,  and 
vested  successively  with  the  dignities  of  consul  and  of  censor, 
used  to  partake  in  the  labour  of  his  own  slaves,  and  to  feed 
with  them  from  the  same  dish  at  their  meals.  When  he 
commanded  the  armies  of  the  republic,  the  daily  allowance 
of  his  household  was  no  more  than  three  medimni,  or  about 
as  many  bushels  of  wheat  for  his  family,  and  half  a  medimnus, 
or  half  a  bushel  of  barley  for  his  horses.  In  surveying  his 
province  he  usually  travelled  on  foot,  attended  by  a  single 
slave  who  carried  his  baggage. 

These  particulars  are  mentioned  perhaps  as  peculiar  to 
Cato;  but  such  singularities  in  the  manners  of  a  person 
placed  so  high  among  the  people,  carry  some  general  intima 
tion  of  the  fashion  of  the  times. 

A  spirit  of  equality  yet  reigned  among  the  members  of  the 
commonwealth,  which  rejected  the  distinctions  of  fortune, 
and  checked  the  admiration  of  private  wealth.  In  all  mili- 
tary donations  the  centurion  had  no  mon>  than  double  the 
allowance  of  a  private  soldier,  and  no  military  rank  was  in- 
delible. The  consul  and  commandcr-in-chicf  of  one  year 
served  not  only  in  the  ranks,  but  even  as  a  tribune  or  infer- 
ior officer  in  the  next;  and  the  same  person  who  had 
displayed  the  genius  and  ability  of  the  general,  still  valued 
himself  on  the  courage  and  address  of  a  Jegionvy  soldier. 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE  IK.  L 

The  sumptuary  laws  of  this  age  were  suited  to  the  idea  of 
citizens  who  were  determined  not  only  to  contribute  their 
utmost  to  the  grandeur  of  the  state ;  but  to  forego  the  means 
of  luxury  or  personal  distinction.  Roman  ladies  were  re- 
strained, except  in  religious  processions,  from  the  use  of 
carriages  any  where  within  the  city,  or  at  the  distance  of 
less  than  a  mile  from  its  walls ;  and  yet  the  space  over  which 
they  were  to  preserve  their  communications  extended  to  a 
circuit  of  fourteen  miles,  and  began  to  be  so  much  crowded 
with  buildings  or  cottages,  that,  even  before  the  reduction 
of  Macedonia,  it  was  become  necessary  to  restrain  private 
persons  from  encroaching  on  the  streets,  squares,  and  other 
spaces  reserved  for  public  conveniency.  In  a  place  of  this 
magnitude,  and  so  stocked  with  inhabitants,  the  female  sex 
was  also  forbid  the  use  of  variegated  or  party-coloured 
clothes,  or  of  more  than  half  an  ounce-  of  gold  in  the  orna- 
ment of  their  persons. 

The  attention  of  the  legislature  was  carried  into  the  detail 
of  entertainments  or  feasts.  In  on<*  act  the  number  of  the 
guests,  and  in  a  subsequent  one  the  expense  of  their  meals, 
were  limited. 

Superstition  made  a  principal  article  in  the  character  of 
the  people.  It  subjected  them  continually  to  be  occupied 
or  alarmed  with  prodigies  and  ominous  appearances,  of 
which  they  endeavoured  to  avert  the  effects  by  rites  and 
expiations,  as  strange  and  irrational  as  the  presages  on  which 
they  had  grounded  their  fears.  Great  part  of  their  time 
was  accordingly  taken  up  with  processions  and  public  shows, 
and  much  of  their  substance,  even  to  the  whole  annual  pro- 
duce of  their  herds,  was  occasionally  expended  in  sacrifices, 
or  in  the  performance  of  public  vows.  The  first  officers  of 
state,  in  their  functions  of  the  priesthood,  performed  the  part 
of  the  cook  and  the  butcher;  and,  while  the  senate  was 
deliberating  on  questions  of  great  moment,  examined  the 
entrails  of  a  victim,  in  order  to  know  what  the  gods  had 
determined. 

According  to  the  opinions  entertained  in  those  times, 
sorcery  was  a  principal  expedient  employed  by  those  who 
had  secret  designs  on  the  life  of  their  neighbour.  It  was 
supposed  to  make  apart  in  the  statutory  crime  of  poisoning. 

The  manners  of  the  people  of  Italy  were  at  times  subject 
to  strange  disorders,  or  the  magistrate  gave  credit  to  wild 
and  improbable  reports.  The  story  of  the  Bacchanals, 
dated  in  the  year  of  Rome  five  hundred  and  sixty-six,  or 
about  twenty  years  before  the  conquest  of  Macedonia,  may 
be  considered  as  an  instance  of  one  or  the  other.  A  society, 
uii-ler  the  name  of  Bacchanals,  had  been  instituted,  on  the 


( 'n.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  123 

suggestion  of  a  Greek  pretender  to  divination.  The  desiro 
of  being  admitted  into  this  society  prevailed  throughout 
Italy,  and  the  sect  became  extremely  numerous.  As  they 
commonly  met  in  the  night,  they  were  said  at  certain  hours 
to  extinguish  their  lights,  and  to  indulge  themselves  in 
every  practice  of  horror,  rape,  incest,  and  murder;  crimes 
under  which  no  sect  or  fraternity  could  possibly  subsist,  but 
which,  in  being  imputed  to  numbers  in  this  credulous  age, 
gave  occasion  to  a  severe  inquisition,  and  proved  fatal  to 
many  persons  in  Rome,  and  throughout  Italy. 

The  extreme  superstition,  however,  of  those  times,  in 
some  of  its  effects,  vied  with  genuine  religion;  and,  by 
the  regard  it  inspired,  more  especially  for  the  obligation  of 
oaths,  became  a  principle  of  public  order  and  of  public  duty, 
and  in  many  instances  superseded  the  use  of  penal  or  com- 
pulsory laws. 

In  the  period  to  which  these  observations  refer,  that  is, 
In  the  sixth  century  of  the  Roman  state,  the  first  dawning 
of  literature  began  to  appear.  It  has  been  mentioned  that 
a  custom  prevailed  among  the  primitive  Romans,  as  among 
other  rude  nations,  at  their  feasta  to  sing  or  rehearse  heroic 
ballads  which  recorded  their  own  deeds  or  those  of  their 
ancestors.  Tlus  practice  had  been  some  time  discontinued, 
and  the  compositions  themselves  were  lost.  They  were 
succeeded  by  pretended  monuments  of  history  equally  falla- 
cious, the  orations  which,  having  been  pronounced  at 
funerals,  were  like  titles  of  honour,  preserved  in  the  ar- 
chives of  every  noble  house,  but  which  were  rather  calcu- 
lated to  flatter  the  vanity  of  families,  than  to  record  the 
truth. 

The  Romans  owed  the  earliest  compilations  of  their  history 
to  Greeks ;  and  in  their  own  first  attempts  to  relate  their  story 
employed  the  language  of  that  people.  Naevius  and  Ennius, 
who  were  the  first  that  wrote  in  the  Latin  tongue,  composed 
their  relations  in  verse.  Livius  Andronicus,  and  after- 
wards Plautus  and  Terence,  translated  the  Greek  fable,  and 
exhibited  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  not  the  Roman,  but 
Grecian  manners.  The  two  last  are  said  to  have  been 
persons  of  mean  condition ;  the  one  to  have  subsisted  by 
turning  a  baker's  mill,  the  other  to  have  been  a  captive  and 
a  slave.  Both  of  thrm  had  pro^iMjr  possessed  the  Greek 
tongue  as  a  vulgar  dialect,  which  was  yet  spoken  in  many 
parts  of  Italy,  and  from  this  circumstance,  became  acquainted 
with  the  elegant  compositions  of  Philemon  and  Meaander. 
Their  comedies  were  acted  in  the  streets,  without  any  seati 
or  benches  for  the  reception  of  an  audience. 


TUB 

HISTORY 

OP  THE 

PROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 

OP  THE 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK   II. 
CHAP.  I. 

State,  Manners,  and  Policy  of  the  Times— Repealed  Complaints  from 
Carthage— Hostile  Disposition  of  the  Romans— Resolution  to  remove 
Carthage  from  the  Coast— Measures  taken  for  this  purpose  — Carthage 
Besieged  — Taken  and  destroyed— Revolt  of  the  Macedonians —  Their 
Kingdom  reduced  to  the  Form  of  a  Roman  Province —Fate  of  the 
Achean  League — Operations  in  Spain — Conduct  of  Viriathus— State  of 
Numantia— Blockade  of  JVumaniia—Its  Destruction— Revolt  of  the 

'  Slates  in  Sicily — Legal  Establithmtnts  and  Manners  of  the  City. 

THE  reduction  of  Macedonia  was  in  many  respects  a  re- 
markable era  in  the  history  of  Rome.  Before  this  date 
Roman  citizens  had  been  treated  as  subjects,  and  permitted 
themselves  to  be  taxed.  They  were  required  at  every 
census  to  make  a  return  of  their  effects  upon  oath,  and, 
besides  other  stated  or  occasional  contributions  to  the  pul»- 
lic,  paid  a  certain  rate  on  the  whole  value  of  their  property. 
But  upon  this  event  they  assumed  more  entirely  the  char- 
acter of  sovereigns;  and,  having  a  treasury  replenished 
with  the  spoils  of  that  kingdom,  exempted  themselves  from 
their  former  burdens. 

From  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  Perseus,  the  Ro- 
mans, for  twenty  years,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  engaged 
with  any  considerable  enemy;  and  their  numerous  colonies, 
now  dispersed  over  Italy,  from  Aquileiato  Rhegium,  proba- 
bly made  great  advance?-  during  this  period,  in  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  the  other  arts  of  peace.  Among  their  pub- 
lic work?  are  mentioned,  not  ouly  temples  and  fo 


Cn.  I.]  HISTORY,  &c.  125 

particulars  in  \vhich  men  attain  to  magnificence  even in  rude 
ages  but  likewise  aqueduct-,  market-places,  pavements, 
highways,  and  other  conveniences,  the  preludes  or  atten- 
dants of  wealth  and  commerce. 

Cato,  in  pleading  against  the  repeated  election  of  the 
same  person  into  the  oltice  of  consul,  exclaimed  against  the 
luxury  of  the  times,  and  alleged,  that  so  many  citizens 
could  not  support  their  extravagance  by  any  other  means 
than  that  of  draining  the  provinces  by  virtue  of  their  re- 
peated appointments  to  command.  "  Observe,"  he  snid» 
•'their  villas  how  curiously  built,  how  richly  furnished  with 
ivory  and  precious  wood.  Their  very  floors  are  coloured 
or  stained  in  the  Punic  fashion." 

The  Romans  had  formerly  made  laws  to  fix  the  age  at 
which  citizens  might  be  chosen  into  the  different  offices  of 
state.  And  on  the  occasion  on  which  Cato  made  this 
speech,  they  excluded  the  same  person  from  being  repeat- 
edly chosen.  They  likewise  made  additions  to  former 
sumptuary  laws.  The  census,  or  enrolment  of  the  people, 
began  to  be  made  with  more  care  than  formerly:  even  the 
Latin  allies,  though  migrating  to  Rome,  were  excluded 
from  the  rolls;  and  the  people  generally  mustered  from 
three  to  four  hundred  thousand  men. 

While  the  Romans  had  no  war  to  maintain  with  the 
more  regular  and  formidable  rivals  of  their  power,  they 
it'll  employed  their  legions  on  the  frontier  of  their  provin- 
ces in  Spain,  Dalmatia,  Liguria,  and  on  the  descents  of  the 
Alps.  They  opened,  for  the  first  time,  an  intercourse  with 
the  Transalpine  nations,  in  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the 
republic  of  Marseilles;  in  consequence  of  which,  they  pro- 
tected that  mercantile  settlement  from  the  attacks  of  fierce 
tribes,  who  infested  them  from  the  maritime  extremities  of 
the  Alps  and  Apennines. 

During  the  present  respite  from  any  considerable  war, 
the  Romans  balanced  the  kingdoms  of  Pergarnus,  Bithynia, 
and  Cappadocia  against  each  other,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
be  able,  at  pleasure,  to  oppress  any  of  those  powers  that 
•hould  become  refractory  or  formidable  to  their  interest. 

They  made  the  kingdom  of  Syria  devolve  on  a  minor,  tho 
son  of  Antiochus  ;  and,  under  the  pretence  of  this  minority, 
sent  a  commission  to  take  charge  of  the  kingdom.  But 
their  commissioners  were,  with  the  connivance  of  tha 
court,  assaulted  in  a  riot  at  Antioch ;  some  of  them  wer« 
killed,  and  others  forced  to  fly  from  the  country. 

Demetrius,  the  son  of  Scleucus,  who  ouirht  to  kar« 
succeeded  to  his  father  in  the  monarch/  of  Syria,  being,  at 
the  death  of  that  prince,  a  hostage  at  Rome,  had  been  sup- 
M 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

planted  by  his  younger  brother,  the  father  of  that  minor 
prince  who  was  now  acknowledged  by  the  Romans. 

Upon  the  insult  that  had  been  thus  offered  to  the  Roman 
commission  at  Antioch,  Demetrius  thought  it  a  favourab.e 
opportunity  to  urge  his  claim,  and  to  prevail  on  the  senate 
to  restore  him  to  the  succession  of  his  father's  crown :  but 
these  crafty  usurpers  denied  his  request. 

Demetrius,  however,  made  his  escape  from  Rome,  and, 
by  the  death  of  the  minor  and  his  tutor,  got  unrivalled  pos- 
session of  the  kingdom  t>f  Syria. 

As  patrons  of  the  kingdom  of  Egypt,  they  promoted  the 
division  of  that  country  between  the  two  brothers,  wh< 
were  then  joined  in  the  sovereignty,  and  rivals  for  the  soh 
possession  of  the  throne. 

During  the  dependence  of  these  transactions,  the  senate 
had  repeated  complaints  from  Africa,  which  ended  in  a 
Avar  that  proved  fatal  at  last  to  the  ancient  rivals  of  their 
power.  In  the  conduct  of  this  war,  being  now  less  depen- 
dent than  formerly  on  the  opinion  of  the  world,  they,  con- 
trary to  their  usual  pretensions  to  national  generosity  and 
liberality,  sacrificed,  without  reserve,  entire  nations  to  the 
ambition,  or  to  the  meanest  jealousy,  of  tbeir  own  republic. 

The  province  of  Emporiae,  a  district  lying  on  the  coast, 
and  the  richest  part  of  the  Carthaginian  territory,  had  been 
violently  seized  by  Gala  king  of  Numidia,  and  father  of 
Massinissa.  It  had  been  again  restored  by  Syphax,  when 
he  supplanted  the  family  of  Gala  on  the  throne  of  that  king- 
dom ;  but  now  again  usurped  by  Massinissa  on  recovering 
the  crown  by  the  power  of  the  Romans,  to  whose  favour 
he  trusted;  and  the  Carthaginians,  precluded  by  the  late 
treaty  from  making  war  on  any  ally  of  the  Romans,  had 
recourse  to  complaints  and  representations,  which  they 
made  at  Rome,  both  before  and  after  the  reduction  of  Ma- 
cedonia. The  Roman  senate  had,  for  five  and  twenty 
years,  eluded  these  complaints,  and,  during  this  time,  was 
in  the  practice  of  sending  commissioners  into  Africa,  under 
pretence  of  hearing  the  parties  in  this  important  dispute, 
but  with  instructions  or  dispositions  to  favour  Massinissa, 
and  to  observe,  with  a  jealous  eye,  the  condition  and  the 
movements  of  their  ancient  rival. 

The  Carthaginians,  yet  possessed  of  ample  resources,  and, 
if  wealth  or  magnificence  could  constitute  strength,  still  a 
powerful  nation ;  being  weary  of  repeated  applications,  to 
which  they  could  obtain  no  satisfying  answer,  took  their 
resolution  to  arm,  and  to  assert  by  force  their  claim  to  the 
territory  in  question. 

Thfiv  were  met  in  the  field  by  the  armv  of  Massinrasa. 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  1^7 

commanded  by  himself,  though  now  about  ninety  years  of 
aire,  and  wore  defeated. 

This  unfortunate  event  disappointed  their  hopes,  and 
exposed  them  to  the  resentment  of  the  Romans,  who  con- 
sidered the  attempt  they  had  made  to  do  themselves  jus- 
tice, as  a  contravention  of  the  late  treaty,  and  a  departure 
from  the  articles  of  peace  between  the  two  nations. 

The  expediency  of  a  war  with  Carthage  had  been  for 
some  time  a  subject  of  debate  in  the  Roman  senate.  Depu- 
ties luul  been  sent  into  Africa,  to  procure  the  information 
that  was  necessary  to  determine  this  question.  Among 
these  Cato,  being-  struck  with  the  greatness,  wealth,  and 
populousness  of  that  republic,  and  with  the  amazing  fer- 
tility of  its  territory,  when  he  made  his  report  in  the  senate, 
exhorted  the  members  strongly  to  war.  This,  and  every 
other  speech  on  this  subject,  Cato  concluded  with  his  famous 
saying:  that  "Carthage  should  be  destroyed." 

Scipio  Nasica,  another  speaker  in  this  debate,  contended 
for  peace.  He  represented  the  forces  of  Carthage  as  not 
sufficient  to  alarm  the  Romans ;  or,  if  really  greater  than 
there  was  any  reason  to  suppose  them,  no  more  than  were 
requisite  to  exercise  the  virtues  of  a  people  already,  for 
want  of  proper  exertion,  begun  to  sutler  some  abatement 
in  their  vigilance,  discipline,  and  valour. 

In  this  diversity  of  opinions,  it  appeared  soon  after,  that 
the  senate  took  a  middle  course,  resolved  not  to  destroy, 
but  to  remove  the  inhabitants  of  Carthage  to  a  new  situa- 
tion, at  least  ten  miles  from  the  sea. 

The  Carthaginians,  after  their  late  unfortunate  adventure 
with  Massinissa,  were  willing  to  preserve  their  effects,  an( 
to  purchase  tranquillity  by  the  lowest  concessions.  But  as 
the  measure  now  proposed  by  the  Roman  senate  amounted 
to  a  deprivation  of  all  that  property  which  is  vested  in 
nouses  or  public  edifices,  and  an  entire  suppression  of  all 
those  local  means  of  subsistence  which  could  not  Se  easily 
transferred,  it  was  not  supposed  that  their  consent  could 
be  easily  obtained,  and  it  was  accordingly  resolved  to  keep 
die  design  a  secret,  until  effectual  means  were  prepared  for 
its  execution. 

The  consuls,  without  any  declaration  of  war,  were  in- 
structed to  arm,  and  to  pass  with  their  forces  into  Sicily. 
As  their  arrival  on  that  island,  which  was  then  in  a  state 
of  profound  peace,  evidently  implied  a  design  upon  Africa, 
the  Carthaginians  were,  distracted  with  opposite  counsels. 
They  laid  the  blame  of  the  war  with  Massinissa  on  Hasdru*- 
bal  and  his  abettors,  whom  they  ordered  into  exile;  but. 
without  cominff  to  any  other  resolutions,  «cnt  adeuutation. 


k<28  HISTOHY  OF  TITR  [B.  II. 

with  full  powers  to  conclude  as  circumstances  might  seem 
to  require,  and  agree  to  whatever  they  should  find  most 
expedient  for  the  commonwealth.  These  deputies,  on  their 
arrival  at  Rome,  finding  no  disposition  in  the  senate  to  treat 
with  them  upon  equal  terms,  resolved  to  arrest,  by  the  most 
implicit  submission,  the  sword  that  was  lifted  up  against 
their  country.  They  accordingly  confessed  the  imprudence 
of  their  late  conduct,  and  implored  forgiveness.  They 
quoted  the  sentence  of  banishment  passed  upon  Hasdrubal 
and  his  party,  as  an  evidence  of  their  contrition  for  the 
hostilities  lately  offered  to  Massinissa ;  and  they  made  a 
formal  surrender  of  their  city  and  its  territory  to  be  disposed 
of  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Romans. 

In  return  to  this  act  of  submission,  they  were  told,  that 
the  Romans  approved  their  behaviour,  and  meant  to  leave 
them  in  possession  of  their  freedom,  their  laws,  their  ter- 
ritory, and  of  all  their  effects,  whether  private  or  public : 
but,  as  a  pledge  of  their  compliance  with  the  measures  thnt 
might  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  return  of  former  dis- 
putes, they  demanded  three  hundred  hostages,  the  children 
of  senators,  and  of  the  first  families  in  Carthage.  This  de- 
mand being  reported  in  the  city  gave  a  general  alarm ;  but 
the  authors  of  these  counsels  were  too  far  advanced  to  recede. 
They  tore  from  the  arms  of  their  parents  the  children  of 
the  first  families  in  the  commonwealth ;  and,  amidst  the 
cries  of  affliction  and  despair,  eml»arked  those  hostages  lor 
Sicily.  Upon  this  island  they  were  delivered  over  to  the 
Roman  consuls,  and  were  by  them  sent  forward  to  Rome. 

The  commanders  of  the  Roman  armament,  without  ex- 
plaining themselves  any  further,  continued  their  voyage, 
and,  by  their  appearance  on  th«-  coast  of  Africa,  gave  afresh 
Alarm  at  Carthage.  Deputies  from  the  unfortunate  inhabi- 
tants of  that  place  went  to  receive  them  at  Utica,  and  were 
told,  that  they  must  deliver  up  an  their  arms,  ships,  engines 
of  war,  naval  and  military  stores  Even  these  alarming 
commands  they  received  as  the  strokes  of  fate,  which  could 
not  be  avoided.  "  We  do  not  mean,"  said  one  of  the  depu- 
ties, "to  dispute  your  commands ;  but  we  entreat  you  to 
consider,  to  what  a  helpless  state  you  are  about  to  reduce 
an  unfortunate  people,  who,  by  this  hard  condition,  will  be 
rendered  unable  to  preserve  peace  among  their  own  citi- 
zens at  home,  or  to  defend  themselves  against  the  meanest 
invader  from  abroad.  We  have  banished  Hasdrubal  in  order 
to  receive  you:  we  have  declared  him  an  enemy  to  his 
country,  that  you  might  be  our  friends :  but  when  we  are 
disarmed,  who  can  prevent  this  exile  from  returning  to 
occupy  the  city  of  Carthage  against  you?  With  twenty 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  129 

thousand  men  that  follow  him,  if  he  comes  into  the  direc- 
tion of  our  government,  he  will  soon  oblige  us  to  make 
war  on  you.1'  In  answer  to  this  piteous  expostulation,  the 
Roman  generals  undertook  the  protection  of  Carthage,  and 
ordered  commissaries  to  receive  the  several  articles  that 
were  to  be  delivered  up,  and  to  see  the  arsenals  and  the 
docks  destroyed. 

It  is  reported,  that  there  were  delivered  up  to  these  com- 
missaries forty  thousand  suits  of  armour,  twenty  thousand 
catapultje,  or  large  engines  of  war,  with  a  plentiful  store  of 
darts,  arrows,  and  other  missiles. 

So  far  the  Romans  proceeded  with  caution,  well  knowing 
the  veneration  which  mankind  entertain  for  the  seats  and 
tombs  of  their  ancestors,  with  the  shrines  and  consecrated 
temples  of  their  gods ;  and  dreading  the  effects  of  despair, 
as  soon  as  the  Carthaginians  should  perceive  how  much 
they  were  to  be  affected  in  their  private  and  public  pro- 
perty. But  now,  thinking  their  object  secure,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  declare  their  intentions.  The  consul  called  the 
Carthaginian  deputies  into  his  presence,  and  beginning  with 
an  exhortation,  that  they  should  bear  with  equanimity  what 
the  necessity  of  their  fortune  imposed,  intimated,  the  defini- 
tive resolution  of  the  Roman  senate,  tliat  the  people  of  Car- 
thage should  relinquish  their  present  situation,  and  build  on 
any  other  part  of  their  territory,  not  less  than  eighty  stadia, 
or  about  ten  miles,  removed  from  the  sea.  The  amazement 
and  sorrow  with  which  these  orders  were  received,  justi- 
fied the  precautions  which  the  Romans  had  taken  to  secure 
the  execution  of  them.  The  deputies  threw  themselves 
upon  the  ground,  and  endeavoured,  from  motives  of  pity, 
or  of  reason,  to  obtain  a  revocation  of  this  cruel  and  arbi- 
trary decree. 

The  Roman  consul  replied  by  repeating  the  express  orders 
of  the  senate,  and  bid  the  Carthaginians  remember,  that 
states  were  composed  of  men,  not  of  ramparts  and  walls. 
That  the  Roman  senate  had  promised  to  spare  and  protect 
the  republic  of  Cartilage;  and  that  they  had  fulfilled  this 
engagement  by  leaving  the  people  in  possession  of  their 
freedom  and  their  laws.  That  the  sacred  places  should 
remain  untouched,  and  that  the  shrines  of  the  gods  would 
etill  be  within  the  reach  of  their  pious  visits.  That  tli«  dis- 
tance to  which  it  was  proposed  to  remove  Carthage  from 
the  sea  was  not  so  great  as  the  distance  at  which  Rome 
herself  was  situated  from  it;  and  that  the  Romans  Imd 
taken  their  resolution,  that  the  people  of  Cartilage  should 
no  longer  have  under  their  immediate  view  that  element 
sriiich  opened  a  way  to  their  aralitJon,  bad  tempted  them 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II 

first  into  Sicily,  afterwards  into  Spain,  and  last  of  all  into 
Italy,  and  to  the  gates  of  Rome;  and  which  would  never 
cease  to  suggest  projects  dangerous  to  themselves,  and  in- 
consistent with  the  peace  of  mankind.  In  the  Carthaginiai; 
senate  the  message  of  the  deputies  Avas  received  with  cries 
of  despair,  which  soon  conveyed  to  the  people  in  the  streets 
a  knowledge  of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  them.  They 
burst  into  the  place  where  the  senate  was  assembled,  and 
laid  violent  hands  on  all  the  members  who  had  advised  or 
borne  any  part  in  the  late  degrading  submissions,  or  who 
had  contributed  to  bring  the  state  into  its  present  helpless 
condition. 

The  multitude  indulged  themselves  in  every  species  of 
riot,  but  a  fe\v  had  the  precaution  to  shut  the  gates,  to 
stretch  the  chain  which  protected  the  entrance  of  the  har- 
bour, and  to  make  a  collection  of  stones  on  the  battlements, 
these  being  the  only  weapons  they  had  left  to  repel  the  first 
attacks  of  the  Romans.  The  remains  of  the  senate  too, 
without  reflecting  on  the  desperate  state  of  their  aft'airs, 
resolved  on  war.  Despair  and  frenzy  succeeded  in  every 
breast  to  dejection  and  meanness. 

Assemblies  were  called  to  reverse  the  sentence  of  banish- 
ment lately  pronounced  against  Hasdrubal,  and  against  the 
troops  under  his  command.  These  exiles  were  entreated 
to  hasten  their  return  for  the  defence  of  a  city  bereft  of 
arms,  ships,  military  and  naval  stores.  The  people,  in  the 
mean  time,  with  an  ardour  which  reason,  and  the  hopes  of 
success  during  the  prosperity  of  the  republic  could  not  have 
inspired,  endeavoured  to  replace  the  arms  and  the  stores 
which  they  had  so  shamefully  surrendered.  They  demo- 
lished their  houses  to  supply  the  docks  with  timber.  They 
opened  the  temples  and  other  public  buildings  to  accommo- 
date the  workmen;  and,  without  distinction  of  sex,  condi- 
tion, or  age,  became  labourers  in  the  public  works,  collected 
materials,  furnished  provisions,  or  bore  a  part  in  any  labour 
that  was  thought  necessary  to  put  the  city  in  a  state  of 
defence.  They  supplied  the  founders  anc"  the  armourers 
with  the  brass  and  iron  of  their  domestic  utensils  ;  or,  where 
these  metals  were  deficient,  brought  what  they  could  fui- 
nish  of  silver  and  gold.  They  joined,  with  the  other  mate- 
rials which  were  used  in  the  roperies,  their  hair  to  b,e  spun 
into  cordage  for  the  shipping,  and  into  br>*os  for  their 
engines  of  Avar. 

The  Roman  consuls,  apprized  of  what  Avaa  in  agitation, 
Avilling  to  await  the  returns  of  reason,  and  to  let  these  first 
ebullitions  of  frenzy  subside,  for  some  days  made  no  at- 
tempts on  the  city.  But,  hearing  of  the  approach  of  Ha*» 


i 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  131 

drubal,  they  thought  it  necessary  to  endeavour,  before  liis 
arrival,  to  possess  themselves  of  the  gates.  Having  in  vain 
attempted  to  scale  the  walls,  they  were  obliged  to  undergo 
the  labours  of  a  regular  siege ;  and,  though  they  made  a 
breach,  were  repulsed  ia  attempting  to  force  the  city  by 
storm. 

Hasdrubal  had  taken  post  on  the  creek  which  separated 
the  peninsula  of  Cartilage  from  the  continent,  maintained 
his  communication  by  water,  and  supplied  the  inhabitants 
with  provisions  and  arms.  The  Romans,  seeing  that  they 
could  not  reduce  the  city  while  Hasdrubal  retained  this 
post,  endeavoured  to  dislodge  him,  but  were  defeated,  and 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege.  They  had  already  spent  two 
years  in  this  enterprise,  changed  their  commanders  twice, 
but  without  advancing  their  fortunes.  They  began  to  incur 
the  discredit  of  having  formed  against  a  neighbouring  com- 
monwealth an  invidious  design  which  they  could  not  accom- 
plish. Enemies  in  every  quarter,  in  Greece,  Macedonia, 
and  Spain,  were  encouraged  to  declare  against  them ;  and 
even  Massinissu,  unwilling  to  see  their  power  substituted 
for  that  of  Carthage,  and  jealous  of  the  avidity  with  which 
they  endeavoured  to  become  masters  in  Africa,  and  to 
snatch  from  his  hands  a  prey  in  which  he  thought  himself 
entitled  to  share,  withdrew  his  forces,  and  left  them  singly 
to  contend  with  the  difficulties  in  which  they  began  to  be 
involved. 

The  Romans  imputed  the  miscarriage  of  their  troops  to 
the  misconduct  of  their  generals ;  and  appointed  Scipio,  by 
birth  the  son  of  Emilius  Paullus,  and  by  adoption  the  grand- 
son of  Scipio  Africanus,  to  the  province  of  Africa,  in  pre- 
ference to  his  colleague,  without  the  usual  method  of  cast- 
ing lots. 

The  mere  change  of  the  commander,  and  better  discip- 
line in  the  Roman  army,  soon  altered  the  state  and  pros- 
pects of  the  war.  The  first  object  of  Scipio  was  to  cut  off 
the  communications  of  the  Carthaginians  with  the  coun- 
try, and  to  intercept  their  supply  of  provisions  and  other 
articles  necessary  to  withstand  a  siege. 

Carthage  was  situated  at  the  bottom  of  a  spacious  bay, 
covered  on  the  west  by  the  promontory  of  Apollo,  on  the 
east  by  that  of  Hermes,  or  Mercury,  at  the  distance  of  about 
fifteen  leagues  from  each  other.  The  city  stood  on  a  pen- 
insula joined  to  the  mainland  by  an  isthmus  about  three 
miles  in  breadth,  and  covering  a  basin  or  harbour,  in  which 
their  docks  and  their  shipping  were  secured  from  storms 
and  hostile  attacks.  The  Byrsa,  or  citadel,  commanded  the 
isthmus,  and  presented  at  this  only  entrance  to  the  town  by 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IL 

land,  a  wall  thirty  feet  thick  and  sixty  feet  high.  The  whole 
circumference  of  the  place  was  above  twenty  miles. 

The  besiegers,  by  their  shipping,  had  access  to  that  side 
of  the  town  on  which  the  walls  were  washed  by  the  sea ; 
but  were  shut  out  from  the  harbour  by  a  chain  which  was 
stretched  across  the  entrance.  Hasdrubal  had  taken  post 
on  the  basin  over  against  the  town,  and  by  these  means 
still  preserved  the  communication  of  the  city  with  the  coun- 
try. Scipio,  to  dislodge  him  from  this  post,  made  a  feint 
at  a  distant  part  of  the  fortifications  to  scale  the  walls,  actu- 
ally gained  the  battlements,  and  gave  an  alarm  which 
obliged  the  Carthaginian  general  to  throw  himself  into  the 
city.  Scipio,  satisfied  with  having  obtained  his  end,  took 
possession  of  the- post  which  the  other  had  abandoned ;  and 
being  now  master  of  the  isthmus,  and  the  whole  continen- 
tal side  of  the  harbour,  advanced  to  the  walls  of  the  Byrsa. 
In  his  camp  he  covered  himself  as  usual  with  double  lines ; 
one  facing  the  fortifications  of  the  enemy,  consisting  of  a 
curtain  twelve  feet  high,  with  towers  at  proper  intervals, 
of  which  one  in  the  centre  was  high  enough  to  overlook  the 
ramparts,  and  to  afford  a  view  of  the  enemy's  works.  The 
other  line  secured  his  rear  from  surprise  on  the  side  of  the 
country ;  and  both  effectually  guarded  the  isthmus,  and 
obstructed  all  access  to  the  town  by  land. 

The  besieged,  however,  still  received  some  supply  of  pro- 
visions by  sea ;  their  victuallers  took  the  benefit  of  every 
wind  that  blew  fresh  and  right  into  the  harbour,  to  pass 
through  the  enemy's  fleet,  who  durst  not  unmoor  to  pursue 
them :  and,  Scipio,  to  cut  off  this  resource,  projected  a  mole 
from  the  mainland  to  the  point  of  the  peninsula  across  the 
entrance  of  the  harbour.  He  began  to  throw  in  his  mate- 
rials on  a  foundation  of  ninety  feet,  with  an  intention  to 
contract  the  mound  as  it  rose  to  twenty-four  feet  at  the 
top.  The  work,  when  first  observed  from  Carthage,  was 
Considered  as  a  vain  undertaking ;  but  when  it  appeared  to 
advance  with  a  sensible  progress,  gave  a  serious  alarm. 

The  Carthaginians,  to  provide  against  the  evils  which 
they  began  to  foresee  from  this  obstruction  at  the  entrance 
of  their  harbour,  undertook  a  work  more  difficult,  and  more 
vast  than  even  that  of  the  besiegers,  to  cut  across  the  penin- 
sula within  their  walls,  and  to  open  a  new  passage  to  the 
sea ;  and  this  they  had  actually  accomplished  by  the  time 
that  the  other  passage  was  shut.  Notwithstanding  the  late 
surrender  of  all  their  shipping  and  stores,  they  had  at  the 
same  time,  by  incredible  efforts,  assembled  or  constructed  a 
navy  of  sixty  galleys.  With  this  force  they  were  ready  to 
appear  in  the  bay.  while  the  Iloman  ships  lay  unmanned 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  Ktf 

and  unrigged,  secure  against  any  danger  from  an  enemy 
whom  they  supposed  shut  up  by  impenetrable  bars ;  and  lii 
these  circumstances,  if  they  had  Availed  themselves  of  the 
surprise  with  which  they  might  have  attacked  their  CIKMIU. 
must  have  done  great  execution  on  the  Roman  fleet.  IJut 
having  spent  no  less  than  two  days  in  clearing  their  n»\v 
passage  after  it  was  known  to  be  open,  and  in  preparing 
for  action,  they  gave  the  enemy  likewise  full  time  to  pro- 
pare.  On  the  third  they  engaged,  fought  for  the  whole  day 
without  gaining  any  advantage;  and,  in  their  retreat  at 
night,  suffered  greatly  from  the  enemy,  who  pressed  on 
their  rear. 

While  the  besiegers  endeavoured  to  obstruct  this  new 
communication  with  the  sea,  the  besieged  made  a  desperate 
attempt  on  their  works  by  land.  A  numerous  body  of  men, 
devoting  their  lives  for  the  defence  of  their  country,  with- 
out any  arras,  and  provided  only  with  matches,  crossed  the 
harbour,  and,  exposing  themselves  to  certain  death,  set  fire 
to  the  engines  and  towers  of  the  besiegers ;  and,  while  they 
were  surrounded  and  put  to  the  sword,  willingly  perished 
in  the  execution  of  their  purpose. 

In  such  operations  the  summer  elapsed ;  and  Scipio,  with 
the  loss  of  his  engines,  and  a  renewal  of  all  the  difficulties 
which  he  had  formerly  to  encounter  at  sea,  contenting  him- 
self with  a  blockade  for  the  winter,  discontinued  the  siege. 

His  command  being  prolonged  for  another  year,  he  re- 
sumed his  attack  in  the  spring;  and  finding  the  place 
greatly  reduced  by  despair  and  famine,  he  forced  his  way 
by  one  of  the  docks,  where  he  observed  that  the  battle- 
ments were  low  and  unguarded.  His  arrival  in  the  streets 
did  not  put  him  in  possession  of  the  town.  The  inhabitants, 
during  six  days,  disputed  every  house  and  every  passage, 
aud  successively  set  fire  to  the  buildings  whenever  they 
were  obliged  to  abandon  them.  Above  fifty  thousand  per- 
sons of  different  sexes,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  citadel, 
at  last  accepted  of  quarter,  and  were  led  captive  from 
thence  in  two  separate  divisions,  one  of  twenty -five  thou- 
sand women,  and  another  of  thirty  thousand  men. 

Nine  hundred  deserters,  who  had  left  the  Roman  army 
during  the  siege,  having  been  refused  the  quarter  which 
was  granted  to  the  others,  took  post  in  a  temple  which  stood 
on  an  eminence,  with  a  resolution  to  die  with  swords  in 
their  hands,  and  with  the  greatest  effusion  of  blood  to  their 
enemies.  To  these  Hasdrubal,  followed  by  his  wife  and 
his  children,  joined  himself;  but  not  having  the  courage  to 
persist  in  the  same  purpose  with  the  -c  deserters,  he  left  the 
temple,  and  accepted  of  quarter  His  wife,  in  the  menu 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IT. 

time,  with  more  ferocity  or  magnanimity  than  her  husband, 
laid  violent  hands  on  her  children,  and,  together  with  thfl 
dead  bodies,  threw  herself  into  the  flame  of  a  burning  ruin. 
The  deserters  too,  impatient  of  the  dreadful  expectations 
which  they  felt,  in  order  to  hasten  their  own  fate,  set  fire 
to  the  temple  in  which  they  had  sought  a  temporary  cover, 
and  perished  in  the  flames. 

The  city  continued  to  burn  during  seventeen  days ;  and 
all  this  time  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to  seize  whatever 
they  could  save  from  the  flames,  or  wrest  from  the  hands 
of  the  dying  inhabitants,  who  were  still  dangerous  to  those 
who  approached  them. 

The  tidings  of  the  taking  of  Carthage  were  received  at 
Rome  with  uncommon  demonstrations  of  joy.  The  victors, 
recollecting  all  the  passages  of  their  former  wars,  the  alarms 
that  had  been  given  by  Hannibal,  and  the  irreconcilable 
antipathy  of  the  two  nations,  gave  orders  to  raze  the  forti- 
fications of  Carthage,  and  even  to  destroy  the  materials  of 
which  they  were  built. 

A  commission  was  granted  by  the  senate  to  ten  of  its 
members  to  take  possession  of  territories  which  were  thus 
deprived  of  their  sovereign,  to  model  the  form  of  this  new 
province,  and  to  prepare  it  for  the  reception  of  a  Roman 
governor.  And  thus  Carthage,  the  only  instance  in  which 
the  human  genius  ever  appeared  greatly  distinguished  in 
Africa ;  the  model  of  magnificence,  the  repository  of  wealth, 
and  one  of  the  principal  states  of  the  ancient  world,  was  no 
more. 

While  the  event  of  this  mighty  siege  was  still  in  depen- 
dence, the  Romans  had  other  wars  to  maintain  on  the  side 
of  Macedonia  and  Greece,  where  the  natural  progress  of 
their  policy,  suited  to  the  measures  which  they  had  taken 
with  other  nations,  now  ended  in  the  open  and  avowed 
usurpation  of  a  sovereignty  which  they  had  long  disguised 
under  the  specious  titles  of  alliance  and  protection. 

Macedonia  being  ill  fitted  to  retain  the  republican  form 
into  which  it  had  been  cast  by  the  Romans,  after  some  years 
of  distraction,  and  an  attempt  at  last  in  favour  of  a  pre- 
tended son  of  the  late  king,  to  recover  its  independence  and 
its  monarchy,  underwent  a  second  conquest. 

Andriscus,  an  African  of  uncertain  extraction,  being 
observed  to  resemble  the  royal  family  of  Macedonia,  had  the 
courage,  under  the  name  of  Philip,  to  personate  a  son  of 
that  unfortunate  monarch,  and  to  make  pretensions  to  the 
crown.  With  this  object  in  view  he  went  into  Syria  to 
solicit  the  aid  of  Demetrius,  but  was,  by  this  prince,  taken 
into  custody,  and  transported  in  chains  to  Rome.  The 


Cfl.  I.I  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  135 

Romans  paid  little  regard  to  ^o  contemptible  an  enemy,  and 
even  allowed  him  to  escape.  After  this  adventure,  the 
same  impostor  appeared  a  second  time  in  Macedonia,  and, 
wtth  better  fortune  than  ho  had  in  the  first  attempt,  drew 
to  his  standard  many  natives  of  that  country  and  of  Thrace. 
In  his  first  encounter  he  even  defeated  Juventius  the  Roman 
pretor,  and  was  acknowledged  king- ;  but  soon  after  fell  a 
prey  to  Metellus,  and  furnished  the  Romans  with  an  obvi- 
ous pretence  for  reducing  the  kingdom  of  Macedonia  to  the 
ordinary  form  of  a  province. 

The  states  of  the  Achean  league,  at  the  same  time,  being 
already  on  the  decline,  hastened,  by  the  temerity  and  dis- 
traction of  their  own  councils,  the  career  of  their  fortunes 
to  the  same  termination. 

The  Romans,  even  while  they  suffered  this  famous  repub- 
lic to  retain  the  show  of  its  independence,  had  treated  its 
members  in  many  particulars  as  subjects.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  with  Perseus,  they  had  cited  to  appear  at  Rome, 
or  taken  into  custody  as  criminals  of  state,  many  citizens  of 
Achaia,  who  had,  in  that  contest,  appeared  to  be  disaffected 
to  the  Roman  cause.  Of  these  they  had  detained  about  a 
thousand  in  different  prisons  of  Italy,  until,  after  a  period 
Jf  seventeen  years,  about  three  hundred  of  them,  who  sur- 
vived their  confinement,  were  set  at  liberty,  as  having 
already  suffered  enough  •,  or  as  being  no  longer  in  condition 
to  give  any  umbrage  to  Rome.  Polybius  being  of  this  num- 
ber, acquired,  during  his  stay  in  Italy,  that  knowledge  of 
Roman  affairs  which  appears  so  conspicuous  in  the  remains 
of  his  history. 

The  Romans,  while  they  detained  so  many  Greek  pri- 
soners in  Italy,  in  a  great  measure  assumed  the  administra- 
tion of  affairs  in  Greece,  disposed  of  every  distinction, 
whether  of  fortune  or  power,  and  confined  these  advantages 
to  the  advocates  of  their  own  cause,  and  to  the  tools  of  their 
own  ambition.  It  appears  that  the  Spartans,  having  been 
forced  into  the  Acnean  confederacy,  continued  refractory 
in  most  of  its  councils.  By  some  of  their  complaints  at 
Rome,  they  obtained  a  deputation,  as  usual,  from  the  senate 
to  hear  parties  on  the  spot,  and  to  adjust  their  differences. 
The  Achean  council,  incensed  at  this  insult  which  W:H 
offered  to  their  authority,  without  waiting  the  arrival  of 
the  Roman  deputies,  proceeded  to  enforce  their  own  de- 
crees against  the  republic  of  Sparta,  marched  an  army  into 
Laconia,  and  defeated  with  some  slaughter,  at  the  gates  of 
Lacedemon,  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  who  ventured  to 
oppose  them.  The  Roman  commissioners  arriving  after 
these  hostilities  had  commenced,  summoned  tho  parties  to 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

assemble  at  Corinth,  and,  in  name  of  the  senate,  gave  sen- 
tence,  that  Lacedemon,  Corinth,  Argos,  Heraclea,  and  Or- 
chomenos,  not  having  been  original  members  of  the  Aohean 
confederacy,  should  now  be  disjoined  from  it ;  and  that  all 
the  cities  which  had  been  rescued  from  the  dominion  of 
Philip,  should  be  left  in  full  possession  of  their  freedom  and 
independency. 

Multitudes  from  all  the  different  states  of  the  league  being 
on  this  occasion  assembled  at  Corinth,  a  great  riot  ensued. 
The  Roman  deputies  were  insulted  and  obliged  to  leave 
the  place ;  and  in  this  manner  commenced  a  war  in  which 
the  Romans,  because  they  hoped  to  establish  their  sove- 
reignty in  Greece  without  any  convulsion,  and  had  full 
employment  for  their  forces  in  Africa,  Spain,  and  Macedo- 
nia, engaged  with  great  reluctance.  The  states  of  the 
Achean  league,  assembled  an  army  to  assert  their  common 
rights,  and  to  enforce  their  authority  over  the  several  mem- 
bers of  their  own  confederacy.  Unfortunately  for  their 
cause,  Metellus  had  then  prevailed  in  Macedonia,  and  was 
at  leisure  to  turn  his  forces  against  them.  He  accordingly 
moved  towards  the  Peloponnesus,  still  giving  the  Acheans 
on  option  to  avert  the  calamities  of  war,  by  submitting  to 
the  mandates  of  the  Roman  senate.  These,  he  said,  were 
no  more,  than  that  they  should  desist  from  their  pretensions 
on  Sparta,  and  the  other  cantons  who  applied  for  the  pro- 
tection of  Rome. 

But,the  Acheans  thought  it  safer  to  resist,  than  to  be 
disarmed  under  these  stale  pretences ;  they  took  the  field, 
passed  through  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,  and,  being  joined 
by  the  Thebans,  marched  to  Thermopylae  with  a  view  to 
defend  this  entry  into  Greece.  In  this,  however,  they  were 
disappointed,  being  either  prevented  from  seizing  the  pass, 
or  driven  from  thence  by  Metellus.  They  were  afterwards 
intercepted  in  their  retreat  through  Phocis,  where  they 
lost  their  leader  Critolaus,  with  a  great  part  of  his  army. 
Diaeus,  who  succeeded  him  as  head  of  the  confederacy,  as- 
sembled a  new  force,  consisting  of  fourteen  thousand  toot, 
and  six  thousand  horse,  took  post  on  the  isthmus  of  Cotinth, 
and  sent  four  thousand  men  for  the  defence  of  Megara,  a 
place  which  still  made  a  part  in  the  expiring  confederacy  of 
independent  Greeks. 

Metellus,  who  after  his  victory  had  made  himself  master 
of  Thebes,  advanced  to  Megara,  dislodged  the  Achoam 
from  thence,  and  continued  his  march  to  the  isthmus.  Here 
he  was  superseded  by  Mummius,  the  consul  of  the  present 
year,  who,  with  the  new  levies  from  Rome,  made  up  an 
arniv  nf  twentv-three  thousand  foot,  and  three  thousand 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  137 

five  hundred  horse.  The  enemy,  having  gained  an  advan- 
tage over  his  advanced  «uard,  were  encouraged  to  hazard 
a  battle  under  the  walls  of  Corinth,  and  were  defeated. 
The  greater  part  fled  into  the  town,  but  afterwards  in  the 
night  withdrew  from  that  place.  Their  general  Discus  fled 
from  the  field  of  battle  to  Megalopolis,  whither  he  had  sent 
liis  family  ;  having  killed  his  wife,  to  prevent  her  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  he  himself  took  poison,  and 
died. 

Such  are  the  imperfect  accounts  which  remain  of  the  last 
efforts  made  by  the  Greeks  to  preserve  a  freedom,  in  the 
exercise  of  which  they  had  acted  so  distinguished  a  part 
As  they  never  were  surpassed  by  any  race  of  men  in  the 
vigour  with  which  they  supported  their  republican  estab  • 
lishments,  so  they  appeared  to  retain  their  ingenuity  and 
their  skill  in  many  arts,  after  they  had  lost  the  military  and 
political  spirit  which  constitutes  the  strength  and  security 
of  nations ;  and  in  this  latter  period,  which  preceded  their 
extinction,  as  the  Achean  league  was  dissolved  on  having 
incurred  the  resentment  of  the  Romans,  so  the  unhappy 
remnant  of  the  Spartan  republic  perished  in  having  accepted 
their  protection.  The  enmity  and  the  friendship  of  the 
Romans  being  equally  fatal,  these  and  every  other  state  or 
republic  of  Greece,  from  this  time  forward,  ceased  to  be 
numbered  among  nations,  having  fallen  a  prey  to  a  power, 
whose  force  nothing  could  equal  but  the  ability  and  the 
cunning  with  which  it  was  exerted. 

On  the  third  day  after  the  action  which  happened  in  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth,  the  victorious  general  entered  the  city ; 
and  as  he  considered  that  the  inhabitants  had  a  principal 
part  in  the  late  insult  offered  to  the  Roman  commissioners, 
gave  the  town,  abounding  in  all  the  accommodations  and 
ornaments  of  a  wealthy  metropolis,  to  be  pillaged  by  the 
soldiers.  He  razed  the  walls,  and  reduced  the  city  to  ashes. 

Thus  Corinth  perished  in  the  same  year  with  Carthage. 
The  fortifications  of  Thebes,  and  of  some  other  towns  dis- 
affected to  the  Romans,  were  at  the  same  time  demolished ; 
and  the  arrangements  to  be  made  in  the  country  of  Greece 
were  committed  to  deputies  from  the  Roman  senate.  By 
their  order,  the  Achean  league  was  dissolved,  and  all  its 
conventions  annulled.  The  states  which  had  composed  it 
were  deprived  of  their  sovereignty,  subjected  to  pay  a  tri- 
bute, and  placed  under  the  government  of  a  person  annu- 
ally sent  from  Rome  with  the  title  of  the  pretor  of  Achea. 

The  Romans  now  appeared  openly,  perhaps  for  the  first 
time,  in  the  capacity  of  conquerors.  The  acquisition  of 
revenue  in  Macedonia,  which,  about  twenty  years  before 


133  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

this  date,  had  first  taught  them-to  exempt  themselves  from 
taxation,  excited  from  thenceforward  an  insatiable  thirst  of 
dominion :  and  their  future  progress  is  marked  by  the  de- 
tail of  wars  which  they  maintained  on  their  frontier,  not  in 
defence  of  the  empire,  but  for  the  enlargement  of  posses- 
sions already  too  great. 

In  Spain,  where  they  still  met  with  resistance,  they  had 
acted  in  all  the  different  periods  of  their  wars,  either  on  the 
offVniive  or  defensive,  according  as  the  state  was  or  was 
n«t,  at  leisure  from  the  pressure  of  their  enemies,  or  accord- 
ing as  the  generals  she  employed  were  ambitious  or  pacific. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  with  Philip,  the  Roman 
territory  in  Spain  had  been  divided  into  two  provinces,  and 
furnished  the  stations  of  two  separate  commanders  annaally 
sent  from  Rome.  On  the  renewal  of  the  war  in  Macedo- 
nia, and  during  the  continuance  of  it,  three  provinces  were 
again  united  under  one  government.  But  upon  the  defeat 
of  Perseus,  and  the  reduction  of  Macedonia,  they  were  sep- 
arated for  ever. 

From  that  time  the  ambition  of  the  Romans  seems  to 
have  operated  in  Spain  Avith  the  s'ame  effect  as  in  other 
parts  on  the  boundaries  of  their  empire.  They  pressed 
upon  the  natives,  not  merely  to  secure  their  own  territory 
from  inroad  and  depredation,  but  to  gain  new  accessions  of 
dominion  and  wealth.  They  advanced  to  the  Tagus,  endea- 
voured to  penetrate  the  mountains  beyond  the  sources  of 
thr£  river  ;  and  on  that  side  involved  themselves  in  a  con- 
tinual struggle  of  many  years'  duration,  with  the  Lusitani- 
ans,  Gallicians,  and  Celtiberi. 

In  these  wars,  the  Roman  officers  were  actuated  by  their 
avarice,  as  well  as  by  their  ambition,  and  ventured  upon 
Acts  of  extortion  and  peculation  in  their  own  government?, 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  first  complaints  of  this  sort  that 
were  brought  to  Rome. 

The  proconsul  Lucullus,  having  accepted  of  the  sur^en- 
der  of  a  town,  and  being  received  into  it  in  consequence  of 
a  capitulation,  nevertheless  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword 
and  carried  off  their  effects.  Galba,  commanding  in  Lusi- 
tania,  ot  the  western  province  of  Spain,  soon  afterwards 
circumvented,  by  a  like  act  of  perfidy  and  cruelty,  some  of 
the  inhabitants  whom  he  could  not  otherwise  reduce. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  last  war  with  Carthage,  the  Lusi- 
tanians,  incensed  by  the  act  of  treachery  which  was  com- 
mitted by  the  Roman  general  Galba,  reassembled  in  numer- 
ous parties  under  Viriathus,  who  had  himself  escaped  fro*n 
tho  massacre  on  that  occasion,  and  who  entertain prl  •,»••» 
implacable  resentment  to  the  authors  of  it.  This  l<vi  !.-r. 


CH,  !.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  139 

according  to  the  Roman  historians,  had  been  originally  a 
herdsman,  afterwards  a  chief  of  banditti,  and  last  of  all  the 
commander  of  an  army  which  had  often  defeated  the  legions 
of  Rome,  and  threatened  their  expulsion  from  Spain.  Ho 
seems  to  have  known  how  to  employ  the  impetuous  valour 
of  a  rude  people  against  troops  not  less  valiant  than  his 
own  countrymen,  though  more  depending  on  discipline; 
and  to  have  possessed  what  the  Spaniards  retained,  even 
down  to  the  days  of  Caesar,  the  faculty  of  turning  the  wanf 
of  order  to  account  against  an  enemy  so  much  accustomed 
to  order,  as,  in  a  great  measure,  to  rely  upon  it  in  most  of 
their  operations.  With  him  an  apparent  rout  and  disper- 
sion of  his  followers  was  the  ordinary  prelude  to  a  violent 
attack ;  and  he  commonly  endeavoured,  by  pretended  flights 
and  disorderly  movements,  to  draw  the  enemy  into  rash 
pursuits  or  precipitant  marches,  and  seized  every  advantage 
which  they  gave  him  with  irresistible  address  and  valour. 
He  continued  above  ten  years  to  baffle  all  the  attempts 
which  the  Romans  made  to  reduce  Lusitania.  He  had  pro- 
jected a  league  and  defensive  confederacy  with  the  other 
free  nations  of  Spain,  when  he  was  assassinated,  as  he  lay 
asleep  on  the  ground,  by  two  of  his  own  followers,  supposed 
to  be  in  concert  with  the  Roman  general. 

The  Romans,  upon  this  event,  found  the  western  and 
northern  parts  of  Spain  open  to  their  inroads.  In  little 
more  than  a  year  afterwards  a  Roman  army  under  Brutus 
passed  the  Duero,  and  penetrated  quite  to  the  coast  ct 
Gallicia,  from  which  they  reported,  with  more  than  the 
embellishments  and  exaggerations  of  travellers,  that  the 
sun  was  seen  from  this  distant  region,  when  he  set  in  the 
evening,  to  sink  and  to  extinguish  himself  with  a  mighty 
noise  in  the  western  ocean. 

Such  were  the  occupations  of  the  Roman  arms  in  the 
western  division  of  Spain,  while  they  were  equally  engaged 
in  the  eastern  province,  under  Cato  the  elder,  Tiberius 
Gracchus,  and  others,  who  endeavoured  to  secure  what  the 
dtate  had  already  acquired,  or  to  extend  its  limits. — These 
generals  obtained  their  several  triumphs,  and  joined  to  the 
Roman  possessions  on  the  coast  considerable  acquisitions  in 
the  inland  part  of  the  country.  Their  progress,  however 
on  this  side  had  been  greatly  retarded  by  the  obstinate  v::1 
our  of  the  Numantiana,  and  other  cantons  of  the  Celtilieri, 
who  had  maintained  the  contest  during  fifty  years,  and  a{ 
.ast  had  formed  a  general  confederacy  of  all  the  inter? m 
nations  of  Spain,  to  be  conducted  by  Viriathus,  when  thoi.- 
measures  \vere  broken  by  the  death  of  that,  forraidab'e 


140  HISTORY  OF  THK  [B.  H. 

Numantia  was  the  principal  stronghold,  or  as  we  may 
conceive  it,  the  capital  of  a  small  nation.  Their  lodgment, 
<«r  township,  was  contained  within  n  circumference  of  about 
ree  uiiles,  situated  among  the  mountains  of  Celtiberia,  or 
Id  Castile,  arid  at  the  confluence  of  the  Durius  with  an- 
her  river,  both  of  which  having  steep  banks,  rendered  the 
ace,  on  two  of  its  sides,  of  very  difficult  access.  It  was 
rtified  on  the  third  side  with  a  rampart  and  ditch. 
The  people  could  muster  no  more  than  eight  or  ten  thou- 
sand men;  but  these  were  greatly  distinguished  by  their 
valour,  reputed  superior  in  horsemanship  to  every  other 
nation  of  Spain,  and  equal  to  the  Romans  in  the  use  of  the 
shield  and  the  stabbing  sword.  They  had  already  gained 
many  victories  over  the  Roman  armies  which  had  been 
employed  to  reduce  them.  They  had  obliged  Pompey,  one 
of  the  Roman  generals,  contrary  to  the  practice  of  his  coun- 
try, to  accept  of  a  treaty,  while  the  advantage  of  fortune 
was  against  him.  They  obliged  the  consul  Mancinus  to 
save  Ms  army  by  a  capitulation.  Neither  of  those  treaties 
indeed  were  ratified  by  the  Roman  senate.  To  expiate  the 
breach  of  the  last,  the  consul  Mancinus,  who  concluded  it, 
together  with  Tiberius  Gracchus,  his  questor,  were  ordered 
to  be  delivered  up  to  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  to  suffer 
in  their  own  persons  for  the  failure  of  engagements  which 
they  could  not  fulfil.  Tiberius  Gracchus  appealed  to  the 
people,  was  saved  by  their  favour,  and  from  this  time  is 
supposed  to  have  received  that  bias  which  he  followed  in 
the  subsequent  part  of  his  political  conduct.  Mancinus 
acquiesced  in  the  sentence  of  the  senate,  was  presented 
naked  and  in  fetters  at  the  gates  of  Numantia,  as  a  sacri- 
fice to  the  resentment  of  that  nation,  for  the  breach  of  a 
treaty  Avhich  the  Romans  determined  not  to  observe.  But 
the  victim  was  nobly  rejected,  and  the  Numantians  insisted 
on  the  conditions  they  had  stipulated,  saying,  that  a  public 
breach  of  faith  could  not  be  expiated  by  the  suffering  of  a 
private  man. 

These  transactions  passed  about  ten  years  after  the  de- 
struction of  Carthage,  and  the  Romans,  mortified  with  the 
length  and  ill  success  of  the  war  with  Numantia,  had  re- 
course again  to  the  services  of  Scipio. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Scipio  in  Spain,  it  is  said  that  he 
fmind  the  Roman  army,  discouraged  by  repeated  defeats, 
withdrawn  into  fortified  stations  at  a  distance  from  the 
enemy,  detesting  the  hardships  of  a  military  camp,  indulg- 
ing themselves  in  all  the  vices  of  a  "disorderly  town,  and 
subject  to  panics  on  the  slightest  alarm.  It  is  said  that  the 


CM.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  141 

cries,  the  aspect,  the  painted  visage,  and  Hie  long  hair  oi 
the  Spaniard  were  become  objects  of  terror. 

Among  the  reformations  which  Scipio  made  to  restore 
the  vigour  of  the  army,  he  cleared  the  camp  of  its  unneces- 
sary followers;  he  restricted  the  quantity  of  baggage,  re- 
duced the  furniture  of  the  kitchen  to  the  spit  and  the  pan ; 
and  the  tables  of  officers  to  plain  food,  roasted  or  boiled. 
He  prohibited  the  use  of  bedsteads  in  camp,  and  that  o* 
horses  to  the  infantry  on  the  march,  obliging  them  to  carr> 
their  own  baggage. 

Though  possessed  of  superior  numbers,  he  damped  the 
ardour  of  a  fierce  people  by  slow  operations ;  ho  laid  waste 
the  country  around  them,  and  by  degrees  obliged  them  to 
retire  within  their  own  ramparts,  and  to  consume  what 
was  raised  or  provided  within  the  circuit  of  their  walls. 

Scipio  had  been  joined  on  his  march  to  Numantia  by  Ju- 
gurtha,  the  grandson  of  Massinissa,  who,  on  their  service, 
made  his  first  acquaintance  with  the  Romans,  and  brought 
a  reinforcement  of  twelve  elephants,  with  a  considerable 
body  of  horse,  of  archers  and  slingers.  At  its  arrival  the 
army  amounted  to  sixty  thousand  men.  But  Scipio  did  not 
attempt  to  storm  the  town ;  lie  took  a  number  of  posts 
which  he  successively  fortified,  and,  by  joining  them  to- 
gether, completed  a  double  line  of  circumvallation,  equal 
in  strength  to  the  walls  which  were  opposed  to  him.  He 
Imd  his  curtains,  his  tower?,  his  places  of  arms  correspond- 
ing to  those  of  the  place ;  and  he  established  an  order  of 
service  and  a  set  of  signals,  in  case  of  alarm  by  day  or  by 
night,  which  resembled  more  the  precautions  of  an  army  on 
ite  defence,  than  the  operations  of  a  siege.  His  intention 
was  to  reduce  the  Numantians  by  famine,  an  operation  of 
time,  during  which,  from  so  warlike  a  nation,  he  might  be 
exposed  to  surprise,  or  to  the  effects  of  despair. 

The  place  besieged  being  at  the  confluence  of  rivers  navi- 
gable with  small  vessels,  which  descended  with  great  rapi- 
dity on  the  stream,  or  which  could,  with  the  favour  of 
proper  winds,  even  remount  in  the  sight;  of  the  enemy,  tin* 
people,  for  a  while,  procured  some  supplies  by  water. 
Numbers  of  them  swimming  with  groat  address,  and  div- 
ing at  proper  places,  to  avoid  being  seen  by  the  besiegers, 
still  passed  through  the  lines,  and  preserved  a  communica- 
tion with  the  country,  until  the  rivers  also  were  barred 
across  their  channels  by  timbers,  that  were  armed  with 
Bwoid-blades  and  spikes  of  iron. 

The  Numantians  were  still  in  hopes  of  succour  from  their 
allies.  Five  aged  warriors  undertook,  each  with  his  son 
for  a  second,  to  pasr,  through  the  lines  of  the  enemy,  and  t« 
N 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

sue  for  relief  from  the  neighbouring  nations.  They  suc- 
ceeded by  night  in  the  first  part  of  their  attempt,  cut  down 
the  Roman  guard,  threw  the  camp  into  some  confusion,  and 
escaped  before  the  occasion  of  the  alarm  was  known.  But 
their  cause  was  become  desperate,  and  too  likely  to  involve 
in  certain  ruin  any  friend  who  embraced  it.  Their  suit, 
nevertheless,  was  attended  to  at  Lutia,  the  head  of  a  small 
canton,  forty  miles  from  Numantia. 

The  young  men  of  this  place  took  their  resolution  in  fav- 
our of  the  injured  Numantians ;  but  Scipio  had  notice  of 
their  intention  time  enough  to  prevent  its  effect.  He  hao- 
tened  to  the  place,  and  having  accomplished  this  march  of 
forty  miles  in  eight  hours,  surprised  the  inhabitants,  ha  I 
four  hundred  young  men  delivered  up  to  him,  .and  ordered 
their  right  arms  to  be  struck  off.  By  this  dreadful  act  of 
severity,  he  secured  himself  from  any  danger  cm  that  qunr- 
ter,  and  impressed  the  other  states  of  that  neighbourhoo  ! 
with  terror. 

The  Numantians,  in  the  mean  time,  were  pressed  with 
famine,  and  having  no  hopes  of  relief,  sent  a  deputation  tu 
try  the  clemency  of  their  enemy. 

Scipio  replied,  That  he  could  not  grant  them  any  terra  » : 
that  they  must  surrender  at  discretion. 

Upon  the  return  of  this  answer  they  resumed  their  for- 
mer obstinacy,  and  held  out  until  they  had  consumed  every 
article  of  provision  within  their  walls ;  endeavoured  to 
turn  their  shields  and  other  utensils  of  leather  into  food, 
devoured  the  dead  bodies,  and  even  preyed  on  each  other. 

The  end  of  this  piteous  scene  is  variously  reported.  By 
some  it  is  said,  that,  in  the  last  stage  of  despair,  the  Numan- 
tians sallied  forth  to  purchase  death  by  the  slaughter  of 
their  enemies;  that,  in  the  execution  of  this  purpose,  they 
for  some  time  exposed  themselves  with  the  most  frantic 
rage,  till  the  greater  part  being  slain,  a  few  returned  into 
the  town,  set  fire  to  the  houses,  and,  with  their  wives  and 
children,  perished  in  the  flames. 

By  others  it  is  said,  that  they  agreed  to  surrender  on  a 
certain  day,  but  that  when  this  day  came  they  begged  for 
another ;  alleging,  that  many  of  their  people,  yet  fond  of 
liberty,  had  determined  to  die,  and  wished  for  one  day  more, 
that  they  might  the  more  deliberately  execute  their  pur- 
pose. Such  was  the  aversion  to  surrender  at  discretion, 
which  the  fear  of  captivity,  and  that  of  its  ordinary  conse- 
quences among  ancient  natfons,  had  inspired.  1'he  few  oi 
this  high-minded  people  who  survived  the  effects  of  de- 
ipair,  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands,  were  stripped  of  their 
anus.  Fifty  were  reserved,  as  a  specimen  of  the  whole,  to 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  143 

adorn  the  victor's  triumph.  The  remainder  wera  sold  for 
slaves,  and  the  walls  of  their  stronghold  were  levelled  with 
the  ground. 

If  we  judge  of  Numantia  from  the  resistance  it  made  to 
the  Roman  arms,  it  having  been  one  of  their  most  difficult 
conquests,  we  must  consider  it  as  a  state  of  considerable 
power.  Its  reduction  gave  immediate  respite  from  war  in 
Spain.  Scipio  and  Brutus  returned  nearly  together  from 
their  provinces  in  that  country,  and  had  their  separate  tri- 
umphs in  the  same  year. 

These  operations  against  Numantia,  Carthage,  Macedo- 
nia, and  Greece,  were  accompanied  with  a  revolt  of  the 
slaves  in  Sicily,  and  with  a  number  of  other  wars  less  con- 
siderable in  Illyricum,  Thrace,  and  Gaul.  Of  these  the 
revolt  of  the  slaves  merits  the  greater  attention,  on  account 
of  the  view  it  gives  of  the  state  of  the  countries  now  under 
the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  Rome.  The  island  of  Sicily 
having  been  the  first  acquisition  which  the  Romans  made 
beyond  the  limits  of  Italy,  had  been  for  some  time  in  a  state 
of  domestic  tranquillity,  and  undisturbed  by  any  foreign 
enemy.  It?  lands  were  become  the  property  of  Roman 
citizens,  who  here,  as  on  their  estates  in  Italy,  cultivated 
plantations  to  supply  with  corn,  wine,  and  oil,  the  markets 
and  granaries  of  Rome.  The  labour  was  performed  by 
slaves.  These  were  led  in  chains  to  the  fields,  or  confined 
in  vaults  and  fortified  workhouses  at  the  several  tasks  they 
wore  employed  to  perform.  As  the  proprietors  of  land 
had  many  reasons  to  prefer  the  labour  of  slaves  to  that  of 
freemen,  who  were  distracted  by  their  political  engage- 
ments, and  ?  Deject  to  be  called  upon  or  pressed  into  the 
military  service,  the  number  of  slaves  continually  increased. 
They  were,  for  the  most  part,  prisoners  of  war  ;  and  some 
of  them  being  of  high  rank,  unused  to  submission,  and  ani- 
mated with  fierce  passions  of  indignation  and  scorn,  were 
ready,  upon  every  favourable  opportunity,  to  take  arms 
against  their  masters,  and  often  to  shake  the  state  itself 
with  a  storm  which  was  not  foreseen  until  it  actually 
burst. 

About  ten  years  after  the  destruction  of  Carthage,  and 
four  years  before  that  of  Numantia,  this  injured  class  of 
men  were  incited  to  revolt  in  Sicily  by  Eunus,  a  Syrian 
slave ;  who,  at  first,  under  pretence  of  religion,  and  by  the 
fame  of  miracles  he  was  supposed  to  perform,  tempted 
many  to  break  from  their  bondage ;  traversed  the  country, 
broke  open  the  vaults  and  prisons  in  which  his  fellow-suf- 
ferers were  confined,  and  actually  assembled  an  army  of 
icventy  thousand  men.  With  this  force,  in  four  successive 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

campaigns,  he  made  a  prosperous  war  on  the  Roman  pretors, 
and  often  stormed  the  intrenchments  of  the  Roman  camp. 

This  leader,  however,  being  ill  qualified  to  improve  his 
victories,  and  having-  no  concerted  plan  for  the  government 
or  subsistence  of  his  followers,  in  a  country  that  was  gradu- 
ally ruined  by  their  own  devastations,  was  at  length,  by  the 
••fiution  and  superior  conduct  of  Perperna,  or  Publius  Iluti- 
ims,  gradually  circumscribed  in  his  depredations,  defeated, 
and  obliffed  to  take  refuge  in  Enna,  a  fortified  place,  when* 
about  twenty  thousand  of  his  followers  were  put  to  the 
sword,  and  the  remainder,  as  an  example,  to  deter  slaves 
from  the  commission  of  a  similar  ofi'ence,  were  nailed  to  the 
cross,  near  the  most  frequented  highways,  and  in  the  most 
conspicuous  parts  of  the  island. 

While  the  Roman  armies  were  thus  employed  in  the 
provinces,  or  on  the  frontier  of  their  extensive  conquests, 
Jialy  itself  had  long  enjoyed  a  perfect  security,  the  lands 
were  cultivated,  and  the  country  stocked  with  people, 
whether  aliens  or  citizens,  freemen  or  slaves.  From  about 
three  hundred  thousand,  which,  in  this  period,  were  the 
ordinary  return  of  the  census,  the  citizens  soon  after  aug- 
mented to  above  four  hundred  thousand. 

The  offices  of  state,  and  the  government  of  provinces,  to 
which  those  who  had  filled  them  succeeded,  began  to  be 
coveted  from  avarice,  as  well  as  from  ambition.  Complaints 
of  peculation  and  extortion,  which  were  received  about  this 
time  from  Spain  and  Macedonia,  pointed  out  the  necessity 
of  restraining  such  oppressions,  and  suggested  some  penal 
laws,  which  were  often,  and  in  vain,  amended  and  revived. 

An  action  was  instituted  in  favour  of  the  provinces, 
against  governors,  or  their  attendants,  who  should  be  ac- 
cused of  levying  money  without  the  authority  of  the  state, 
and  an  ordinary  jurisdiction  was  granted  to  one  of  the  pre- 
tors, to  hear  complaints  on  this  subject.  The  penalty  at 
first  was  no  more  than  restitution,  and  a  pecuniary  fine ;  it 
was  gradually  extended  to  degradation,  and  exile. 

These  reformations  are  dated  in  the  time  of  the  last  war 
with  Carthage,  and  are  ascribed  to  the  motion  of  Culpur- 
nius  Piso,  then  one  of  the  tribunes.  Before  this  time  all 
jurisdiction  in  criminal  matters  belonged  to  the  tribunal  of 
the  people,  and  was  exercised  by  themselves  in  their  col- 
lective capacity,  or  occasionally  delegated  to  a  special  com- 
mission. Few  crimes  were  yet  defined  by  statute,  and 
ordinary  courts  of  justice  for  the  trial  of  them  were  not  yet 
established. 

To  supply  these  defects,  a  list  of  statutory  crimes  now 
began  to  be  made,  and  an  ordinary  jurisdiction  was  osmt>- 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  145 

lished.  Besides  extortion  in  the  provinces,  which  had  been 
denned  by  the  la\v  of  Culpurnius,  murder,  breach  of  faith, 
robbery,  assault,  poisoning1,  incest,  adultery,  bribery,  false 
judgment,  fraud,  perjury,  &c.,  were  successively  joined  to 
the  list;  and  an  ordinary  jurisdiction  for  the  trial  of  such 
crimes  was  vested  in  a  jury  of  senators,  over  whom  the 
pretor,  with  the  title  of  questor,  presided. 

The  number  of  pretors,  corresponding  to  this  and  other 
growing1  exigencies  of  the  state,  was  now  augmented  to 
six ;  and  these  officers,  though  destined,  as  well  as  the  con- 
suls, to  the  command  of  armies  and  the  government  of 
provinces,  began,  during  the  term  of  their  magistracy,  to 
have  full  occupation  in  the  city.  On  this  account  it  was  not 
till  after  the  expiration  of  the  year  for  which  they  had  been 
elected,  that  they  drew  lots  for  a  province.  A  like  policy 
was  soon  after  adopted  in  the  destination  of  consuls,  and 
all  the  other  officers  of  state,  who,  being  supposed  to  have 
sufficient  occupation  in  Italy  and  Rome  during  the  year  of 
their  appointment,  were  not  destined  to  any  foreign  service 
till  that  year  was  expired. 

With  these  establishments,  calculated  to  secure  the  func- 
tions of  office,  the  use  of  the  ballot  was  introduced,  first  in 
elections,  and  afterwards  in  collecting  opinions  of  judges  in 
the  courts  of  justice. 

From  the  facility  with  which  criminal  accusations  now 
began  to  be  received,  a  new  species  of  crime  arose.  Cal- 
umny and  vexatious  prosecutions,  commenced  by  disap- 
pointed competitors  against  persons  in  public  trust,  became 
so  frequent  as  to  require  the  interposition  of  laws.  On  this 
account  it  was  enacted,  upon  the  motion  of  Memmius,  that 
all  persons  in  office,  or  appointed  to  command  in  the  pro- 
vinces, might  decline  answering  a  criminal  charge  until 
the  expiration  of  their  term,  or  until  their  return  from  the 
service  to  which  they  were  destined;  and  persons  of  any 
denomination  might  have  an  action  of  calumny  against  tho 
author  of  a  false  or  groundless  prosecution.  Whoever 
was  convicted  of  this  offence  was  to  be  branded  in  the  f;u-»> 
with  the  initials  of  his  crime. 

By  these  establishments  the  city  of  Rome,  long  resem- 
bling a  mere  military  station,  made  some  progress  in  com- 
pleting1 the  system  and  application  of  her  laws.  Literary 
productions,  in  some  of  their  forms,  particularly  in  the  form 
of  dramatic  compositions,  as  hath  been  already  observed, 
began  to  be  known.  The  representation  of  fables  was  first 
Introduced  under  pretence  of  religion,  and  practised  as  a 
sacred  rite  to  avert  the  plague  or  some  public  calamity. 
This  entertainment  was  fondly  received  by  the  people,  and 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

therefore  frequently  presented  to  them  by  the  ediles,  who 
had  the  charge  of  such  matters.  Literature,  however,  in 
some  of  its  less  popular  forms,  was  checked,  as  a  source  of 
corruption.  In  the  year  of  Rome  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
two,  that  is,  about  eight  years  after  the  reduction  of  Mace- 
donia, the  Roman  senate,  upon  a  report  from  M.  Pomponius, 
the  pretor,  that  the  city  was  frequented  by  philosophers  and 
rhetoricians,  resolved,  that  this  officer,  agreeably  to  Ms  duty 
to  the  republic,  should  take  care  to  remove  all  such  persons 
in  the  manner  his  own  judgment  should  direct;  and,  in 
about  six  years  after  this  date,  an  embassy  having  come 
from  Athens,  composed  of  scholars  and  rhetoricians,  who 
drew  the  attention  of  the  youth  by  the  display  of  their  tai- 
onts,  an  uncommon  dispatch  was  given  to  their  business, 
that  they  might  not  have  any  pretence  for  remaining  too 
long  in  the  city. 

A  proposal  which  was  made  during  this  period,  to  erect 
a  theatre  for  the  accommodation  of  the  spectators  at  their 
public  shows,  was  rejected  with  great  indignation,  as  an 
attempt  to  corrupt  the  manners  ot  the  people. 

The  sumptuary  laws  already  mentioned,  respecting  en- 
tertainments and  household  expenses,  were,  under  the 
nair.e  of  Didius,  the  person  who  proposed  the  renewal  of 
them,  revived ;  and,  with  some  alterations,  extended  to  all 
the  Roman  citizens  dispersed  over  Italy. 

Such  was  the  antidote  which  the  policy  of  that  age  pro- 
vided, in  the  capital  of  a  great  empire,  against  luxury  and 
the  ostentation  of  wealth  ;  distempers  incident  to  prosperity 
itself,  and  not  to  be  cured  by  partial  remedies.  They  were 
by  the  Romans  (who  knew  better  how  to  accomplish  the 
celebrated  problem  of  Themistocles,  'in  making  a  small 
state  a  great  one,'  than  they  knew  how  to  explain  the  ef- 
fects of  its  greatness)  commonly  imputed  to  some  particular 
circumstance,  or  accidental  event.  To  the  spoils  of  Taren- 
tum,  they  said,  and  of  Asia,  to  the  destruction  of  our  prin- 
cipal rivals  the  Carthaginians ;  to  the  mighty  show  of  sta- 
tues, pictures,  and  costly  furniture,  which  were  brought  by 
Mummius  from  Corinth,  we  owe  this  admiration  of  finery, 
and  so  prevailing  a  passion  for  private  as  well  as  for  public 
wealth. 

In  this  manner  they  explained  the  effects  of  a  progress 
Avhich  they  themselves  had  made  in  the  acquisition  of  so 
many  provinces ;  in  the  growing  security  and  riches  of  a 
mighty  city,  from  which  all  foreign  alarms  were  far  re- 
moved ;  and  to  which  the  wealth  of  a  great  empire,  eithei 
in  the  form  of  private  fortune  or  of  public  treasure,  began 
to  flow  with  a  continued  and  increasing  stream. 


C«.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  147 


CHAP.  II. 

Kxtent  of  the  Roman  Empire— Political  Character  of  itt  Head—FaciUtv 
with  which  it  continued  to  advance  -  Change  of  Character,  Political 
tit  well  at  Moral — Character  of  the  People  or  Comment  -  Danger  out 
Humourt  likely  to  break  out  —Appearance  of  Tiberiut  Gracchut  -  Hit 
project  to  revive  Uie  Late  of  Liciniut—lntercettion  of  the  Tribune  Octa- 
riut—The  Republic  divided— Ditputet  in  tiie  Comitia—Depotition  of 
Vie  Tribune  Oclaviut—Commisrionert  appointed  for  the  Division  oj 
Lands  -  Tiberiut  Gracchut  suet  to  be  re-elected  Tribune—  Hit  DeaCi— 
Immediate  Contequence*  —  Proceeding!  of  Carbo—  Embassy  of  Scipio — 
Foreign  Affair*  -  Violence  vf  the  Commistionert—Dometlic  Affairt. 

IN  the  manner  that  has  been  summarily  stated  in  the  pre- 
ceding1 chapters,  the  Romans  completed  their  political  estab- 
lishment, and  made  their  first  and  their  greatest  advances  to 
empire,  without  departing  from  the  policy  by  which  they  had 
been  preserved  in  the  infancy  of  their  power.  They  were  be- 
came sovereigns  of  Macedonia,  Greece,  Italy,  part  of  Africa, 
Lusitania,  and  Spain ;  yet,  even  in  this  pitch  of  greatness, 
made  no  distinction  between  the  civil  and  military  depart- 
ments, nor  gave  to  any  citizen  an  exemption  from  the 
public  service.  They  did  not  despise  any  enemy,  neither  in 
the  measures  they  took,  nor  in  the  exertions  they  made  to 
resist  him  :  and  as  the  fatal  eilects  which  they  and  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  ancient  world  were  long  accustomed 
to  expect  from  defeats,  were  no  less  than  servitude  or  death, 
they  did  not  submit  to  any  enemy,  in  consequence  of  any 
event,  nor  under  the  pressure  of  any  calamity  whatever. 

Other  nations  were  accustomed  to  rise  on  victories,  and 
to  sink  under  defeats ;  to  become  insolent  or  mean  with  the 
tiile  of  their  fortunes.  The  Romans  alone  were  moderate 
in  prosperity,  and  arrogant  when  their  enemies  expected  to 
force  their  submission. 

Other  nations,  when  in  distress,  could  weigh  their  suf- 
ferings against  the  concessions  which  they  were  required 
to  make;  and,  among  the  evils  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
preferred  what  appeared  to  be  the  least.  The  Romans 
nlone  spurned  the  advances  of  a  victorious  enemy;  were 
not  to  be  moved  by  sufferings;  and,  though  they  cautiously 
avoided  difficulties  that  were  likely  to  surpass  their  strength, 
did  not  allow  it  to  be  supposed  that  they  were  governed  l>\ 
fear  in  any  case  whatever.  They  willingly  treated  with 
the  vanquished,  and  were  ready  to  grant  the  most  liberal 
terms  when  the  concession  could  not  be  imputed  to  weak- 
ness or  fear.  Bv  such  free  and  unforced  concession  indeed. 


148  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  Jl. 

they  established  a  reputation  for  generosity,  which  contri- 
buted, no  less  than  their  valour,  to  secure  the  dominion 
they  acquired. 

With  the  same  insinuating  titles  of  allies  or  protectors, 
by  which  they  had,  in  the  infant  state  of  their  policy, 
brought  all  the  cantons  of  Latium  to  follow  their  standard ; 
they  continued  to  take  the  ascendant  over  nations  whom 
they  could  not  have  otherwise  subdued. 

By  their  famous  maxim  in  war,  already  mentioned, 
That  the  submissive  were  to  be  spared,  and  the  proud  to  be 
humbled,  it  became  necessary  for  them,  in  every  quarrel, 
to  conquer  or  to  perish ;  and,  when  these  were  the  altei 
natives  proposed  by  them,  other  nations  were  entitled  to 
consider  them  as  common  enemies.  .No  state  has  a  right 
to  make  the  submission  of  mankind  a  necessary  condition 
to  its  own  preservation ;  nor  are  many  states  qualified  to 
support  such  pretensions. 

The  measure  of  the  Roman  conquests,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventh  century  of  Home,  though  great,  was  yet  far 
from  being  full ;  and  the  people  had  not  hitherto  relaxed 
the  industry,  nor  cooled  in  the  ardour  with  which  prosper*- 
ous  nations  advance,  but  which  they  frequently  remit  in 
the  height  of  their  attainments  and  of  their  power. 

The  constitution  of  the  commonwealth  still  afforded  a 
plentiful  nursery  of  men  for  both  the  civil  and  military 
departments;  and  this  people  accordingly  continued  foi 
some  time  to  advance  with  a  quick  pace  in  the  career  of 
their  conquests.  They  subdued  mighty  kingdoms  with  as 
great,  or  greater  facility,  than  that  with  which  they  had 
formerly  conquered  villages  and  single  fields. 

But  the  enlargement  of  their  territory,  and  the  success 
of  their  arms  abroad,  became  the  sources  of  a  ruinous  cor- 
ruption at  home.  The  wealth  of  provinces  began  to  flow 
into  the  city,  and  filled  the  coffers  of  private  citizens,  as  well 
;i ;  those  of  the  commonwealth.  The  offices  of  state  and  the 
r-»nmand  of  armies  were  become  lucrative  as  well  as  hon- 
ourable, and  were  coveted  on  the  former  account.  In  the 
suih;  itself  the  governing  and  the  governed  felt  separate 
in  crests,  and  were  at  variance,  from  motives  of  avarice,  as 
well  as  ambition ;  and,  instead  of  the  parties  who  formerly 
strove  for  distinction,  and  for  the  palm  of  merit  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  commonwealth,  factions  arose,  who  contended 
for  the  greatest  share  of  its  spoils,  and  who  sacrificed  the 
public  to  their  party-attachments  and  animosities. 

T\vo  hundred  and  thirty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  ani- 
mosities of  patrician  and  plebeian  were  extinguished  by 
t'.)e  equal  participation  of  piibUV.  honours  This  distinction 


C».  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  149 

itself  was  in  a  great  measure  obliterated,  and  gave  way  to 
a  new  one,  which,  under  the  denomination  of  nobles  and 
commons,  or  illustrious  and  obscure,  without  involving1  any 
legal  disparity  of  privileges,  gave  rise  to  an  aristocracy, 
which  was  partly  hereditary,  founded  in  the  repeated  suc- 
cession to  honours  in  the  same  family ;  and  partly  persona., 
founded  in  the  habits  of  high  station,  and  in  the  advantages 
»f  education,  such  as  never  fail  to  distinguish  the  conditions 
of  men  in  every  great  and  prosperous  state. 

These  circumstances  conferred  a  power  on  the  nobles, 
which,  though  less  invidious,  was  not  less  real  than  that 
which  had  been  possessed  by  the  ancient  patricians.  The 
exercise  of  this  power  was  lodged  with  the  senate,  a  body 
which  was  probably  never  surpassed  in  magnanimity,  abi- 
lity, or  steadiness,  by  any  council  of  state  whatever. 

The  knights,  or  the  equestrian  order,  being  persons  pos- 
sessed of  estates  or  effects  of  a  certain  valuation,  formed 
between  the  senate  and  the  people  an  intermediate  rank, 
who,  in  consequence  of  their  having  a  capital,  and  being 
less  engaged  than  the  senators  in  affairs  of  state,  became 
traders,  contractors,  farmers  of  the  revenue,  and  consti- 
tuted a  species  of  moneyed  interest  in  the  city,  and  in  the 
provinces. 

Such,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  period  of  which  the 
events  have  been  already  related,  was  the  distribution  of 
rank  in  this  commonwealth.  But  circumstances  which 
appear  to  be  fixed  in  the  political  state  of  nations,  are  often 
no  more  than  a  passage  in  the  shifting  of  scenes,  or  a  tran- 
sition from  that  which  a  people  have  been,  to  what  they 
are  about  to  become.  The  nobles  began  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  high  authority  and  advantages  of  their  station,  and 
to  accumulate  property  as  well  as  honours.  The  country 
began  to  be  occupied  with  their  plantations  and  their  slaves ; 
and  the  number  of  great  landed  estates,  and  the  multiplica- 
tion of  slaves,  kept  pace  together. 

Citizens  contended  for  offices  in  the  state  as  the  road  to 
lucrative  appointments  abroad ;  and  when  they  had  obtained 
this  end,  and  had  reigned  for  a  while  in  some  province,  they 
brought  back  from  their  governments  a  profusion  of  wealth 
ill  acquired,  and  the  habit  of  arbitrary  and  uncontrolled 
vommand.  When  disappointed  in  the  pursuits  of  fortune 
abroad,  they  became  the  leaders  of  dangerous  factions  at 
home;  or  when  suddenly  possessed  of  grc.:t  wealth,  they 
became  the  agents  of  corruption  to  disseminate  idleness, 
and  the  love  of  ruinous  amusements,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people. 

The  seclusion  of  the  r-|ui«s1ri:in  onlor  from  the  pursuit  of 
O 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  Hi.  II. 

political  emolume?it  or  honour,  and  the  opportunities  they 
had.  by  contracts  and  by  farming  the  revenue,  to  improve 
their  fortunes  in  a  differ  "Hit  way,  confirmed  them  in  the 
habits  of  trade,  and  the  attention  to  lucrative  considera- 
tions. 

The  city  was  gradually  crowded  with  a  populace,  who, 
tempted  with  the  cheap  or  gratuitous  distribution  of  corn, 
by  the  frequency  of  public  shows,  by  the  consequence  they 
enjoyed  as  members  of  the  popular  assemblies,  or  perhaps 
dislodged  from  the  country  by  the  engrossers  of  land,  and 
the  preference  which  was  given  to  the  labour  of  slaves  over 
that  of  freemen,  flocked  from  the  colonies  and  municipal 
towns  to  reside  at  Home.  There  they  were  corrupted  by 
idleness  and  indigence,  and  the  order  itself  was  continually 
debased  by  the  frequent  accession  of  emancipated  slaves. 

The  Romans,  who  were  become  so  jealous  of  their  pre- 
rogative as  citizens,  had  no  other  way  of  disposing  of  a 
slave,  who  had  obtained  his  freedom,  than  by  placing  him 
on  the  rolls  of  the  people ;  and  from  this  quarter  accord- 
ingly the  numbers  of  the  people  were  chiefly  recruited. — 
The  emancipated  slave  took  the  name  of  his  master,  became 
a  client,  and  a  retainer  of  his  family ;  and  at  funerals  and 
other  solemnities,  where  the  pomp  was  distinguished  by  the 
number  of  attendants,  made  a  part  of  the  retinue.  This 
class  of  men  accordingly  received  continual  additions,  from 
the  vanity  or  weakness  of  those  who  chose  to  change  their 
slaves  into  dependent  citizens ;  and  numbers  who  had  been 
conducted  to  Rome  as  captives,  or  who  had  been  purchased 
in  Asia  or  Greece,  at  a  price  proportioned  to  the  pleasurable 
arts  they  possessed,  became  an  accession  to  that  turbulent 
populace,  who,  in  the  quality  of  Roman  citizens,  tyrannized 
in  their  turn  over  the  masters  of  the  world,  and  wreaked 
on  the  conquerors  of  so  many  nations  the  evils  which  they 
themselves  had  so  freely  inflicted  on  mankind. 

Although  citizens  of  this  description  were  yet  far  from 
being  the  majority  at  Rome,  yet  it  is  probable  that  they 
were  in  numbers  sufficient  to  contaminate  the  whole  body 
of  the  people;  and,  if  enrolled  promiscuously  in  all  the 
tribes,  might  have  had  great  weight  in  turning  the  scale  of 
political  councils.  This  effect,  however,  was  happily  modi- 
fied by  the  wise  precaution  which  the  censors  had  taken  to 
confine  all  citizens  of  mean  or  slavish  extraction  to  four  of 
the  tribes.  These  were  called  the  tribes  of  the  city,  and 
formed  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole. 

While  the  state  was  advancing  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Italy,  and  while  the  territories  successively  acquired  were 
cleared  for  the  receotion  of  Roman  citizens,  by  the  reduo- 


Cn.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  151 

tion  and  captivity  of  the  natives,  there  was  an  outlet  for 
the  redundancy  of  this  growing-  populace,  and  its  over- 
flowings were  accordingly  dispersed  over  Italy,  from  Rhe- 
gium  to  Aquileia,  in  about  seventy  colonies.  But  the  coun- 
try being  now  completely  settled,  and  the  property  of  its 
inhabitants  established,  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  provide 
for  the  indigent  citizens  in  this  manner ;  and  the  practice  of 
settling  new  colonies,  which  had  been  so  usefulin  planting, 
and  securing  the  conquests  which  were  made  in  Italy,  had 
not  yet  been  extended  beyond  this  country,  nor  employe;! 
as  the  means  of  securing  any  of  the" provinces  lately  acquired. 
Mere  colonization,  indeed,  would  have  been  an  improper 
and  inadequate  measure  for  this  purpose ;  and  in  the  time 
of  the  republic  never  was,  in  any  considerable  degree,  ex- 
tended beyond  sea.  For  these  reasons,  although  the  Ro- 
man territory  was  greatly  extended,  the  resources  of  the 
poorer  citizens  were  diminished.  The  former  discharge 
for  many  dangerous  humours  that  were  found  to  arise 
among  them,  was  in  some  measure  shut  up,  and  these 
humours  began  to  regorge  on  the  state. 

While  the  inferior  people  at  Rome  sunk  in  their  charac- 
ters, or  were  debased  by  the  circumstances  we  have  men- 
tioned, tha  superior  ranks,  by  their  application  to  affairs  of 
state,  by  their  education,  by  the  ideas  of  high  birth  and 
family  distinction,  by  the  superiority  of  fortune,  began  to 
rise  in  their  estimation,  in  their  pretensions,  and  in  their 
power;  and  they  entertained  some  degree  of  contempt  for 
persons,  whom  the  laws  still  required  them  to  admit  as  their 
fellow  citizens  and  equals. 

In  this  disposition  of  parties  so  dangerous  in  a  common- 
wealth, and  amidst  materials  so  likely  to  catch  the  flame, 
some  sparks  were  thrown  that  soon  kindled  up  anew  all  the 
popular  animosities  which  seemed  to  have  been  so  long 
extinguished.  We  have  been  carried,  in  the  preceding 
narration,  by  the  series  of  events,  somewhat  beyond  the 
date  of  transactions  that  come  now  to  be  related.  While 
Scipio  was  employed  in  the  siege  of  Numantia,  and  while 
the  Roman  officer!  in  Sicily  were  yet  unable  to  reduce  tin- 
revolted  slaves,  Tiberius  Gracchus,  boru  of  a  plebeian 
family,  but  ennobled  by  the  honours  of  his  father,  by  his 
descent  on  the  side  of  his  mother  from  the  first  Sri  pi  o 
Africanus,  and  by  his  alliance  with  the  second  Scipio,  who 
had  married  his  sister,  being  now  tribune  of  the  people,  :md 
possessed  of  all  the  accomplishments  required  in  a  popular 
leader,  great  ardour,  resolution,  and  eloquence,  formed  u 
project  in  itself  extremely  alarming,  and  in  its  consequen- 
ces dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  republic. 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

Like  other  young  men  of  high  pretensions  at  Rome, 
Tiberius  Gracchus  had  begun  his  military  service  at  the 
usual  age,  had  served  with  reputation  under  his  brother-in- 
law,  Scipio,  at  the  siege  of  Carthage,  afterwards  as  questor, 
under  Mancinus  in  Spain,  where  the  credit  of  his  father, 
well  known  in  that  province,  pointed  him  out  to  the  natives 
as  the  only  person  with  whom  they  would  negotiate  in  the 
treaty  that  ensued.  The  disgrace  he  incurred  in  this  trans- 
action gave  him  a  distaste  to  the  military  service,  and  to 
foreign  affairs.  When  he  was  called  to  account  for  it,  the; 
severity  he  experienced  from  the  senate,  and  the  protection 
he  obtained  from  the  people,  filled  his  breast  with  an  ani- 
mosity to  the  one,  and  a  prepossession  in  favour  of  the 
other. 

Actuated  by  these  dispositions,  or  by  an  idea  not  uncom- 
mon to  enthusiastic  minds,  that  'the  unequal  distribution 
of  property,  so  favourable  to  the  rich,  is  an  injury  to  the 
poor;'  he  now  proposed  in  part  to  remedy  or  to  mitigatfc 
this  supposed  evil,  by  reviving  the  celebrated  law  of  Lici- 
nius,  by  which  Roman  citizens  had  been  restrained  from 
accumulating  estates  in  land  above  the  value  of  five  hun- 
dred jugera,*  or  from  having  more  than  one  hundred  of  the 
larger  cattle,  and  five  hundred  of  the  lesser. 

In  his  travels  through  Italy,  he  said,  he  had  observed  that 
the  property  of  land  was  beginning  to  be  engrossed  by  a 
few  of  the  nobles,  and  that  the  country  was  entirely  occu- 
pied by  blaves  to  the  exclusion  of  freemen  ;  that  the  race  of 
Roman  citizens  would  soon  be  extinct,  if  proper  settle- 
ments were  not  provided  to  enable  the  poor  to  support 
their  families,  and  to  educate  their  children;  and  he  alleged, 
that  if  estates  in  land  were  reduced  to  the  measure  pre- 
scribed by  law,  the  surplus  left  would  then  be  sufficient  for 
this  purpose. 

Being  determined  however,  as  much  as  possible,  to  pre- 
vent the  opposition  of  the  nobles,  and  to  reconcile  the  inter- 
est of  both  parties  to  his  scheme,  he  proposed  to  make  some 
abatements  in  the  rigour  of  the  Licinjan  law,  allowing 
every  family  holding  five  hundred  jugera  in  right  of  the 
father,  to  hold  half  as  much  in  the  right  of  every  uneman- 
cipated  son;  and  proposed,  that  every  person  who  should 
suffer  any  diminution  of  his  property  in  consequence  of  the 
intended  reform,  should  have  compensation  made  to  him ; 
and  that  the  sum  necessary  for  this  purpose  should  be  issued 
from  the  treasury. 

In  this  manner  he  set  oat  with  an  appearance  of  moder- 

•  Little  more  than  half  as  many  acres. 


Cn.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  153 

fttion,  acting  in  concert  with  some  leading  men  in  the  state 
and  members  of  the  senate,  such  as  Appius  Claudius,  whose 
daughter  he  had  married,  a  senator  of  the  family  of  Cras- 
sus,  who  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  priesthood,  and 
Mucius  Scaevola,  consul. 

To  complete  the  intended  reformation,  and  to  prevent 
for  the  future  the  accumulation  of  estates  in  land,  the  sale 
:>r  commerce  of  land  was  from  thenceforward  to  be  pro- 
hibited; and  three  commissioners  were  to  be  annually 
named,  to  ensure  the  execution  and  regular  observance  of 
this  law. 

The  project  of  Tiberius  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the 
senate;  and  as  warmly  supported  by  the  opposite  party. 
At  the  several  assemblies  of  the  people  which  were  called 
to  deliberate  on  this  subject,  Tiberius  exalting  the  charac- 
ters of  freemen  contrasted  with  slaves,  displayed  the  copi- 
ous and  pathetic  eloquence  in  which  he  excelled.  All  the 
free  inhabitants  of  Italy  were  Romans,  or  nearly  allied  to 
tins  people.  He  observed  how  much,  being  supplanted  by 
the  slaves  of  the  rich,  they  were  diminished  in  their  num- 
hers.  He  inveighed  against  the  practice  of  employing 
slaves,  a  class  of  men  that  bring  perpetual  danger,  without 
uny  addition  of  strength  to  the  public,  and  who  are  ever 
ready  to  break  forth  in  desperate  insurrections,  as  they  hait 
then  actually  done  in  Sicily,  where  they  still  occupied  tho 
Roman  arms  in  a  tedious  and  ruinous  war. 

In  declaiming  on  the  mortifications  and  hardships  of  the 
indigent  citizen,  he  said,  "  Every  wild  beast  in  this  happy 
land  has  a  cover  or  place  of  retreat.  But  many  valiant  and 
respectable  citizens,  who  have  exposed  their  lives,  and  who 
have  shed  their  blood  in  the  service  of  their  country,  have 
not  a  home  to  which  they  may  retire.  They  wander  with 
their  wives  and  their  children,  stript  of  every  possession, 
but  that  of  the  air  and  the  light.  To  such  men  the  common 
military  exhortation,  to  'fight  for  the  tombs  of  their  fathers, 
and  for  the  altars  of  their  household  gods,'  is  a  mockery  and 
a  lie.  They  have  no  altars ;  they  have  no  monuments. 
They  fight  and  they  die  to  augment  the  estates,  and  t.. 
pamper  the  luxury  of  a  few  wealthy  citizens,  who  havu 
engrossed  all  the  riches  of  the  commonwealth.  As  citi/en- 
of  Rome,  they  are  entitled  'the  masters  of  the  world,'  but 
possess  not  a  foot  of  earth  on  which  they  may  rest." 

He  asked,  whether  it  were  not  reasonable  to  apply  What 
was  public  to  public  uses?  whether  a  freeman  were  not 
preferable  to  a  slave,  a  brave  man  to  a  coward,  and  a  fel- 
low citizen  to  a  stranger  ?  lie  expatiated  on  the  fortune, 
and  stated  the  future  prospect*  of  the  republic. 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II 

He  exhorted  the  present  proprietors  of  land,  whom  the 
law  of  division  might  affect,  not  to  withhold,  for  the  sake 
of  a  trifling  interest  to  serve  themselves,  so  great  an  advan- 
tage from  their  country.  He  bade  them  consider  that 
riches  were  merely  comparative ;  ana  that,  in  respect  to 
this  advantage,  they  were  still  to  remain  in  the  first  rank  of 
their  fellow  citizens. 

By  these  and  similar  arguments  he  endeavoured  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  one  party,  and  to  inflame  the  zeal  of  the 
other.  But  when  he  came  to  propose,  that  the  law  should 
be  read,  he  found  that  his  opponents  had  availed  themselves 
of  their  usual  defence ;  had  procured  M.  Octavius,  one  of 
his  own  colleagues,  to  interpose  with  his  negative,  and  to 
forbid  any  farther  proceeding  in  the  business.  Here,  ac- 
cording to  the  forms  of  the  constitution,  this  matter  should 
have  dropped.  But  Tiberius,  thus  suddenly  stopped  in  his 
career,  became  the  more  impetuous  and  confirmed  in  his 
purpose.  Having  adjourned  the  assembly  to  another  day, 
bo  prepared  a  motion  more  violent  than  the  former,  in 
which  he  erased  all  the  clauses  by  which  he  had  endeav- 
oured to  soften  the  hardships  likely  to  fall  on  the  rich.  He 
proposed,  that,  without  expecting  any  compensation,  they 
should  absolutely  cede  the  surplus  of  their  possessions,  as 
being  obtained  by  fraud  and  injustice. 

In  this  time  of  suspense,  the  controversy  began  to  divide 
the  colonies  and  free  cities  of  Italy,  and  was  warmly  agi- 
tated wherever  the  citizens  had  extended  their  property. 
The  rich  and  the  poor  took  opposite  sides.  They  collected 
their  arguments,  and  mustered  their  strength. 

Multitudes  of  people  from  all  parts  of  Italy,  some  ear- 
nestly desirous  to  have  the  law  enacted,  others  to  have  it  set 
aside,  crowded  to  Rome  to  attend  the  decision  of  the  ques- 
tion; and  Gracchus,  without  dropping  his  intention,  as 
usual,  upon  the  negative  of  his  colleague,  only  bethought 
himself  how  he  might  surmount,  or  remove  this  obstruction. 

Having  hitherto  lived  in  personal  intimacy  with  Octavius, 
he  tried  to  gain  him  in  private ;  and  having  failed  in  this 
attempt,  he  entered  into  expostulations  with  him,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  public  assembly ;  desired  to  know,  whether  he 
feared  to  have  his  own  estate  impaired  by  the  effects  of  the 
law;  for  if  so,  he  offered  to  indemnify  him  fully  in  what- 
ever he  might  suffer  by  the  execution  of  it :  and  being  still 
unable  to  shake  his  colleague,  who  was  supported  by  the 
countenance  of  the  senate  and  the  higher  ranks  of  men  in 
the  state,  he  determined  to  try  the  force  of  his  tribunitian 
powers  to  compel  him,  laid  the  state  itself  under  a  general 
interdict,  sealed  up  the  doors  of  the  treasury,  suspended  the 


Cii.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  If 

proceedings  in  the  courts  of  the  pretoi  -,  and  put  a  stop  to 
all  the  functions  of  office  in  the  city. 

All  the  nobility  and  superior  class  of  the  people  went  into 
mourning.  Tiberius,  in  his  turn,  endeavoured  to  alarm  the 
passions  of  his  party;  and  believing-,  or  pretending  to  he- 
lieve,  that  he  himself  was  in  danger  of  being  assassinated, 
had  a  number  of  persons  with  arms  to  defend  his  person. 

While  the  city  was  in  this  state  of  suspense  and  confu- 
nion,  the  tribes  were  again  assemble  I,  and  Tiberius,  in 
defiance  of  the  negative  of  his  colleague,  was  proceeding  to 
.•all  the  votes,  when  many  of  the  people,  alarmed  by  this 
intended  violation  of  the  sacred  law,  crowded  in  before  the 
tribe  that  was  moving  to  ballot,  an<5  sci /.<>,!  the  urns.  A 
great  tumult  was  likely  to  arise.  The  popular  party,  being 
most  numerous,  were  crowding  aroui?  !  their  leader,  when 
two  senators,  Manlius  and  Fulvius,  both  <»f  consular  dignity, 
fell  at  his  feet,  embraced  his  knees,  a:i  I  beseeched  him  not 
to  proceed.  Overcome  with  the  res  cct  that  was  due  to 
persons  of  this  rank,  and  with  the  sei^e  of  some  impending 
calamity,  he  asked,  What  they  would  have  him  to  do? 
"The  case,"  they  said,  "is  too  arduous  for  us  to  decide; 
refer  it  to  the  senate,  and  await  their  decree." 

Proceedings  were  accordingly  suspended  until  the  senate 
had  met,  and  declared  a  resolution  not  to  confirm  the  law. 
Gracchus  resumed  the  subject  with  the  people,  being  deter- 
mined either  to  remove,  or  to  slight  the  negative  of  his 
colleague.  He  proposed,  that  either  the  refractory  tribune, 
or  himself,  should  be  immediately  stripped  of  his  dignity. 
He  desired  that  Octavius  should  put  the  question  first, 
Whether  Tiberius  Gracchus  should  be  degraded?  This 
being  declined  as  irregular  and  vain,  he  declared  his  inten- 
•on  to  move  in  the  assembly,  on  the  following  day,  That 
Octavius  should  be  divested  of  the  character  of  tribune. 

Hitherto  all  parties  had  proceeded  agreeably  to  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  the  commonwealth;  but  this  motion, 
to  degrade  a  tribune,  by  whatever  authority,  was  equally 
subversive  of  both. 

The  assembly,  however,  being  met  in  consequence  of  this 
alarming  adjournment,  Tiberius  renewed  his  prayer  to 
Octavius  to  withdraw  his  negative;  but  not  prevailing  in 
this  request, the  tribes  were  directed  to  proceed.  The  votes 
of  the  majority  were  declared,  and  Octavius,  reduced  to  a 
private  station,  was  dragged  from  the  tribunes'  bench,  and 
exposed  for  a  short  time  to  the  rage  of  the  populace. 

This  obstacle  being  removed,  the  act  so  long  depending, 
for  making  a  more  equal  division  of  lands,  was  passed ;  and 
three  commissioners,  Tiberius  Gracchus,  Appiua  Claudius, 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  li. 

his  father-in-law,  and  his  brother  Cains  Gracchus,  then  a 
youth  serving  under  Publius  Scipioat  the  siege  of  Numan- 
tia,  were  named  to  carry  the  law  into  execution. 

This  act,  as  it  concerned  the  interest  of  almost  every  in- 
habitant of  Italy,  immediately  raised  a  great  ferment  in 
every  part  of  the  country.  The  senate  endeavoured  to 
delay  the  execution  of  the -law,  withheld  the  usual  aids  ami 
appointments  given  to  the  commissioners  of  the  people  in 
the  ordinary  administration  of  public  trusts,  and  waited  for 
a  fit  opportunity  to  suppress  entirely  this  hazardous  pro- 
ject. Parties  looked  on  each  other  with  a  gloomy  and  sus- 
picious silence.  Gracchus,  affecting  to  believe  a  design  to 
be  forming  against  his  life,  appeared,  with  his  children  and 
their  mother,  as  suppliants  in  the  streets,  and  implored  the 
protection  of  the  people.  Still  more  to  interest  their  pas- 
sions in  his  safety,  he  published  a  list  of  the  acts  which  he 
then  had  in  view,  all  tending  to  gratify  the  people,  or  to 
mortify  the  senate. 

These,  with  the  preceding  attempts  to  abolish  or  to 
weaken  the  aristocratical  part  of  the  government,  were 
justly  alarming  to  every  person  who  was  anxious  for  the 
preservation  of  the  state.  Tiberius  heard  himself  arraigned 
in  the  forum,  and  in  every  public  assembly,  for  the  viola- 
tion of  the  sacred  law.  "  If  any  of  your  colleagues,"  said 
Titus  Annius  (whom  he  prosecuted  for  a  speech  in  the 
senate,)  "  should  interpose  in  my  behalf,  would  you  have 
him  also  degraded?" 

The  people  in  general  began  to  be  sensible  of  the  enor- 
mity they  themselves  had  committed,  and  Tiberius  found 
himself  under  a  necessity  of  pleading  for  the  measure  he 
had  taken,  after  it  had  been  carried  into  execution,  The 
arguments  he  employed  tended  to  introduce  the  plea  of 
necessity  where  there  was  no  foundation  for  it,  and  to  set 
the  sovereign  power,  in  every  species  of  government,  loose 
from  the  rules  which  itself  had  enacted.  Such  arguments 
accordingly  had  no  effect  where  the  interest  of  the  parties 
did  not  concur  to  enforce  them.  Tiberius  saw  his  credit  on 
the  decline.  He  was  publicly  menaced  with  impeachment, 
and  had  given  sufficient  provocation  to  make  him  apprehend 
that,  upon  the  expiration  of  his  office,  some  violence  might 
be  offered  to  himself.  His  person  was  guarded  only  by  the 
sacred  character  of  the  tribune.  The  first  step  he  should 
make  in  the  new  character  he  was  to  assume,  as  commis- 
sioner for  the  division  of  lands,  was  likely  to  terminate  his 
life.  He  resolved,  if  possible,  to  take  shelter  in  the  tribu- 
nate another  year,  and,  to  procure  this  favour  from  the 
people,  gave  farther  expectations  of  popular  acts :  of  one  to 


CH.  II.l  RwMAN  REPUBLIC.  157 

shorten  the  term  of  military  service,  and  of  another  to  grant 
an  appeal  to  the  people  from  the  courts  of  justice  lately 
established. 

The  senate,  and  every  citizen  who  professed  a  regard  tc 
the  constitution,  Avere  alarmed.  This  attempt,  they  said, 
to  perpetuate  the  tribunitian  power  in  the  same  person 
tends  directly  to  tyranny.  The  usurper,  with  the  lawless 
multitude  that  supports  him,  must  soon  expel  from  the  pub- 
lic assemblies  every  citizen  who  is  inclined  to  moderation  ; 
and,  together  with  the  property  of  our  lands,  to  which  they 
already  aspire,  make  themselves  master  of  the  state.  Their 
leader,  it  seems,  like  every  other  tyrant,  already  tldnks  that 
his  safety  depends  Upon  the  continuance  of  his  power. 

In  this  feverish  state  of  suspense  and  anxiety,  great 
efforts  were  made  to  determine  the  elections.  The  time  ol 
choosing  the  tribunes  was  now  fast  approaching :  Roman 
citizens,  dispersed  on  their  lands  throughout  Italy,  were 
ongaged  in  the  harvest,  and  could  not  repair  to  the  city. 
On  the  day  of  election  the  assembly  was  ill  attended,  espe- 
cially by  those  who  were  likely  to  favour  Tiberius.  He 
being  rejected  by  the  first  tribes  that  moved  to  the  ballot, 
his  friends  endeavoured  to  amuse  the  assembly  with  forms, 
and  to  protract  the  debates,  till  observing  that  the  field  did 
not  fill,  nor  the  appearance  change  for  the  better,  they 
moved  to  adjourn  to  the  following  day. 

When  the  first  tribe  delivered  their  votes,  a  confusion 
arose  among  the  people.  Numbers  from  the  more  distant 
parts  of  the  assembly  began  to  press  forward  to  the  centre. 
Among  others,  Fulvius  Flaccus,  a  senator  yet  attached  to 
Tiberius,  being  too  far  oft'  to  be  heard,  beckoned  with  his 
hand  that  he  would  speak  with  the  tribunes.  Having  made 
his  way  through  the  multitude,  he  informed  Tiberius,  that 
a  resolution  was  taken  in  tho  senate  to  resist  him  by  force ; 
and  that  a  party  of  senators,  with  their  clients  and  slaves, 
was  arming  against  his  life.  All  who  were  near  enough  to 
hear  this  information,  took  the  alarm,  snatched  the  staves 
from  the  officers  that  attended  the  tribunes,  and  tucked  up 
their  robes  as  for  immediate  violence.  The  alarm  spread 
through  the  assembly,  and  many  called  out  to  know  the 
cause,  but  no  distinct  account  could  be  heard.  Tihorius 
having  in  vain  attempted  to  speak,  made  a  sign,  by  waving 
his  hand  round  his  head,  that  his  life  was  in  danger.  This 
sign,  together  with  tho  hostile  and  menacing  appearances 
that  gave  rise  to  it,  being  instantly  reported  in  the  sonato, 
and  interpreted  as  a  hint  given  to  the  people,  that  it  was 
necessary  he  should  be  crowned,  or  that  he  should  assume 
the  sovereignty,  the  senate  immediately  rosulvod.  in  u  furua 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

that  was  usual  on  alarming  occasions,  that  the  consul  should 
provide  for  the  safety  of  the  state.  This  resolution  was 
supposed  to  confer  a  dictatorial  power,  and  was  generally 
given  when  immediate  execution  or  summary  proceedings 
were  deemed  to  be  necessary,  without  even  sufficient  tin:e 
ror  the  formalities  observed  in  naming  a  dictator.  The  con- 
sul Mucius  Scaevola,  who  had  been  in  concert  with  Tibe- 
rius in  drawing  up  the  first  frame  of  his  law,  but  who  pro- 
bably had  left  him  in  the  extremes  to  which  he  afterwards 
proceeded ;  on  the  present  occasion,  however,  declined  to 
employ  force  against  a  tribune  of  the  people,  or  to  disturb 
the  tribes  in  the  midst  of  their  legal  assembly.  "  If  they 
shall  come,"  he  said,  "  to  any  violent  or  illegal  determina- 
tion, I  will  employ  the  whole  force  of  my  authority  to  pre- 
vent its  effects." 

"  The  consul,"  said  Scipio  Nasica,  "  deserts  the  republic ; 
let  those  who  wish  to  preserve  it,  follow  me."  The  sena- 
tors instantly  arose,  and  moving  in  a  body,  which  increased 
as  they  went,  by  the  concourse  of  their  clients,  they  seized 
the  shafts  of  the  fasces,  or  tore  up  the  benches  in  their  way, 
and,  with  their  robes  wound  up,  in  place  of  shields,  on 
their  left  arm,  broke  into  the  midst  of  the  assembly  of  the 
people. 

Tiberius,  surrounded  by  a  numerous  multitude,  found  his 
party  unable  to  resist  the  awe  with  which  they  were  struck 
by  the  presence  of  the  senate  and  nobles.  The  few  who 
resisted  were  beat  to  the  ground.  He  himself,  while  he 
fled,  being  seized  by  the  robe,  slipped  it  from  his  shoulders 
and  continued  to  fly;  but  he  stumbled  in  the  crowd,  and 
while  he  attempted  to  recover  himself,  was  slain  with 
repeated  blows.  His  body,  as  being  that  of  a  tyrant,  to- 
gether with  the  killed  of  Ms  party,  amounting  to  about 
three  hundred,  as  accomplices  in  a  treasonable  design 
against  the  republic,  were  denied  the  honours  of  burial, 
and  thrown  into  the  river.  Some  of  the  most  active  of  his 
partisans  that  escaped,  were  afterwards  cited  to  appear, 
and  were  outlawed  or  condemned. 

Thus,  in  the  heats  of  this  unhappy  dispute,  both  the  sen- 
ate and  the  people  had  been  carried  to  acts  of  violence  that 
insulted  the  laws  and  constitution  of  their  country. 

The  disorders  that  arise  in  free  states  which  are  begin- 
ning to  corrupt,  generally  furnish  very  difficult  questions 
in  the  casuistry  of  politicians.  Even  the  struggles  of  vir- 
tuous citizens,  because  they  do  not  prevent,  are  sometimes 
supposed  to  hasten,  the  ruin  of  their  country.  The  violence 
of  the  senate,  on  this  occasion,  was  by  many  considered 
with  aversion  and  horror.  The  subversion  of  imvprr.mont.. 


CH.  II.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


159 


that  was  likely  to  have  followed  the  policy  of 
because  it  did  not  take  place,  was  overlooked;  and  the 
restitution  of  order,  effected  by  the  senate,  uppeared  to  be 
a  tyranny  established  in  blood.  The  senators  themselves 
were  struck  with  some  degree  of  remorse,  and,  what  is 
dangerous  in  politics,  took  a  middle  course  between  the 
extremes.  They  were  cautious  not  to  inflame  animosities, 
by  any  immoderate  use  of  their  victory,  nor  by  any  imme- 
diate opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  popular  law.  They 
wished  to  atone  for  the  violences  lately  committed  against 
the  person  of  its  author  :  they  permitted  Fulvius  Flaccus  and 
Papirius  Carbo,  two  of  the  most  daring  leaders  of  the  popu- 
lar faction,  to  be  elected  commissioners  for  the  execution  of 
the  Agrarian  law,  in  the  room  of  Tiberius  and  Appius  Clau- 
dius, of  whom  the  latter  also  died  about  this  time;  and,  in 
order  to  stifle  animosities  and  resentments,  consented  that, 
under  pretence  of  an  embassy  to  Fergamus,  Scipio  Nasica 
should  be  removed  from  Rome.  In  consequence  of  this  com  - 
mission,  this  illustrious  citizen,  the  lineal  descendant  of  one 
of  the  Scipios  who  perished  in  Spain  in  the  time  of  the  second 
Punic  war,  himself  an  ornament  to  the  republic,  died  in  a 
species  of  exile,  though  under  an  honourable  title. 

In  the  midst  of  such  agitations,  foreign  affairs  were  likely 
to  be  much  overlooked.  They  proceeded,  however,  under 
the  conduct  of  the  officers  to  whom  they  were  intrusted, 
with  the  usual  success  ;  and  the  senate,  having  the  reports 
made  nearly  about  the  same  time,  of  the  pacification  of 
Lusitrmia,  the  destruction  of  Numantia,  and  the  reduction 
and  punishment  of  the  slaves  in  Sicily,  named  commissioners 
to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  generals  commanding  in  those 
several  services,  in  order  to  settle  their  provinces. 

Brutus  and  Scipio  had  their  several  triumphs  ;  one  with 
the  title  of  Galaicus,  for  having  reduced  the  Gallicians ;  the 
other,  still  preferring  the  title  of  Africanusto  that  of  Numan- 
tinus,  which  was  ottered  to  him  for  the  sack  of  Numantia. 

Papirius  Carbo  spent  the  year  of  his  tribunate  in  fomen- 
ting the  animosity  of  the  people  against  the  senate,  and 
in  promoting  dangerous  innovations.  He  obtained  a  law, 
by  which  the  votes  of  the  people,  in  questions  of  lc^i-lati(*i 
as  well  as  election,  and  the  opinions  of  the  judges  in  deter- 
ming  causes,  were  to  be  taken  by  ballot. 

He  was  less  successful  in  the  motion  he  made  for  a  law 
to  enable  the  same  person  to  be  repeatedly  chosen  into  the 
office  of  tribune.  He  was  supported  in  this  motion  by  Caius 
Gracchus;  opposed  by  Scipio,  Laelius,  and  the  whole 
authority  of  the  senate,  who  dreaded  the  perpetuating  in 
»ny  one  person  a  power,  which  the  sacredness  of  the 


ICO  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

character,  and  the  attachment  of  the  populace,  rendered  al- 
most sovereign  and  irresistible. 

While  the  interests  of  party  were  exerted  in  these  several 
questions  at  home,  the  state  was  laying  the  foundation  of 
new  quarrels  abroad,  and  opening  a  scene  of  depredation 
and  conquest  in  Avhat  was  then  the  wealthiest  part  of  the 
known  world.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Attalus,  king  of 
Pergamus,  who  had  bequeathed  Ms  kingdom  to  the  Ro- 
mans, Aristonicus,  his  natural  brother,  being  the  illegiti- 
mate son  of  Eumenes,  made  pretensions  to  the  throne  of 
Pergamus,  and  was  supported  by  a  powerful  party  among 
the  people.  The  Romans  did  not  fail  to  maintain  their 
i  ight :  Crassus,  one  of  the  consuls  of  the  preceding  year, 
had  been  sent  with  an  army  into  Asia  for  that  purpose,  but 
in  his  first  encounter  with  Aristonicus  was  defeated  and 
taken.* 

The  following  year,  the  consul  Perperna  being  sent  on  this 
service,  and  having,  with  better  fortune  than  Crassus, 
defeated  and  taken  Aristonicus,  got  possession  of  the 
treasure  and  kingdom  of  Attalus,  but  died  in  his  command 
at  Pergamus.  From  this  time  the  Romans  took  a  more 
particular  concern  than  formerly  in  the  affairs  of  Asia, 
They  employed  Scipio  Emilianus,  with  Sp.  Mummius,  and 
L.  Metellus,  on  a  commission  of  observation  to  that  country. 

In  Avhatever  degree  the  Roman  embassy  found  worthy 
objects  of  attention  in  the  state  of  the  Asiatic  powers, 
matters  were  hastening  in  Italy  to  a  state  of  great  distrac- 
tion, and  ferment,  on  account  of  the  violence  with  which 
the  Agrarian  law  was  put  in  execution  by  Papirius  Carbo, 
Fulvius  Flaccus,  and  Caius  Gracchus,  the  commissioners 
appointed  for  this  purpose.  As  the  law  authorized  them  to 
call  upon  all  persons  possessed  of  public  lands  to  evacuate 
them,  and  submit  to  a  legal  division ;  they,  under  this  pre- 
tence, brought  into  question  all  the  rights  of  property 
throughout  Italy,  and  took  from  one  and  gave  to  another 
as  suited  their  pleasure ;  some  suffered  the  diminution  of 
their  estates  with  silent  rage ;  others  complained  that  they 
were  violently  removed  from  lands  which  they  had  culti- 
vated, to  barren  and  inhospitable  situations ;  even  they  who 
were  supposed  to  be  favoured,  complained  of  the  lots  they 
received.  Many  were  aggrieved,  none  were  satisfied. 

Moved  by  the  representations  which  were  made  of  these 
abuses,  Scipio,  at  his  return  from  Asia,  made  a  harangue  in 
the  senate,  proposing  to  take  the  execution  of  the  law  for 
the  division  of  lands  out  of  the  hands  of  so  pernicious  a  fac» 

*  U.  C.  SS. 


Cii.  H.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  161 

tion,  and  committed  to  the  Consul  Sempronius  Tuditanus, 
who  remained  in  the  administration  of  allairs  in  Italy,  while 
his  colleague  Aquilius  had  gone  to  Asia  to  finish  the  trans- 
action in  the  conduct  of  which  Perperna  died. 

It  is  mentioned  that  Scipio,  in  this  speech  to  the  senate, 
complained  of  insults  and  threats  to  his  own  person,  which 
induced  all  the  members,  with  a  great  body  of  the  more 
respectable  citizens,  to  attend  him  in  procession  to  his  own 
house.  *  Next  morning-  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  suspicions  of  violenge  transmitted  by 
dift'erent.authors,  nothing  certain  appears  upon  record. 

The  occasion  was  not  sufficient  to  make  the  senate  persist 
in  their  intention  to  name  a  dictator ;  nor  is  there  any  thing 


extraction  ;  of  which  this  is  recorded  as  the  first  example. 
Metellus,  at  the  census,  made  a  memorable  speech,  in  which 
he  recommended  marriage,  the  establishment  of  families, 
and  the  rearing  of  children.  This  speech  being  preserved, 
will  recur  to  our  notice  again,  being  read  by  Augustus  in 
the  senate,  as  a  lesson  equally  applicable  to  the  age  in  which 
he  lived. 

The  people  who  were  fit  to  carry  arms,  as  appeared  at 
their  enrolment,  amounted  to  three  hundred  and  seventeen 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three.  But  what  is 
most  memorable  in  the  transactions  of  this  muster,  was  the 
disgrace  of  Caius  Attinius  Labeo,  who,  being  struck  off  the 
rolls  of  the  senate  by  Metellus,  afterwards  became  tribune 
of  the  people. 

Metellus,  in  returning  from  the  country,  about  noon,  while 
the  market-place  was  thin  of  people,  found  himself  suddenly 
apprehended  by  this  vindictive  tribune,  and  ordered  to  be 
thrown  immediately  from  the  Tarpeian  rock.  The  people 
assembled  in  crowds.  Metellus  struggled  to  obtain  a  delay, 
was  overpowered  and  dragged  through  the  streets,  while 
the  violence  he  suffered  made  the  blood  to  spring  from  his 
nostrils.  A  tribune,  the  only  power  that  could,  without 
profanation,  interrupt  a  tribune,  was  with  difficulty  found 
in  time  to  save  his  life ;  but  Attinius  having,  with  a  lighted 
fire  and  other  forms  of  consecration,  devoted  his  estate  to 
sacred  uses,  it  is  alleged  that  he  never  recovered  it. 

Such  was  the  weak  state  to  which  the  government  was 
reduced  by  the  late  popular  encroachments,  that  this  out- 
rageous abuse  of  power  was  never  punished  ;  and  such  the 


IC2  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

moderation  of  this  great  man's  family,  that  none  of  them 
chose  to  increase  the  disturbances  of  the  commonwealth,  by 
attempting  to  revenge  the  outrage  which  their  father  had 
suffered. 

Caius  Attinius  is  mentioned,  as  being  the  person  who  ob- 
tained the  admission  of  the  tribunes,  in  right  of  their  office, 
as  members  of  the  senate. 

The  Consul  Sempronius,  though  authorized  by  the  senate 
to  restrain  the  violence  of  the  commissioners  who  were 
employed  in  the.  Agrarian  law,  declined  that  hazardous 
business,  and  chose  rather  to  encounter  the  enemy  in  the 
province  of  Istria,  Avhere  he  made  some  conquests  and  ob- 
tained a  triumph. 

Historians  mention  a  dreadful  eruption  of  mount  Etna, 
the  effect  of  subterraneous  fires,  which  shaking  the  foun- 
dations of  Sicily  and  the  neighbouring  islands,  gave  explo- 
sions of  flame,  not  only  from  the  crater  of  the  mountain, 
but  likewise  from  below  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  forced 
sudden  and  great  inundations  over  the  islands  of  Lipare 
and  the  neighbouring  coasts. 


CHAP.  III. 

State  of  the  Italian  allies,  and  the  views  which  now  began  to  be  conceived 
by  them — Appearance  of  Caius  Gracchus — Resolution  to  purge  the  city 
of  Aliens— Consulate  and  factious  motions  of  Fulvius  Flaccus  —  Con- 
tpiracy  of  Frigettce  suppressed—  Caius  Gracchus  returns  to  Rome — 
Offers  himself  candidate  for  the  tribunate—  Tribunate  and  acts  of  Caius 
Gracchus — Re-election— Proposal  to  admit  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  on  the 
Rolls  of  Roman  Citisens— Popular  Acts  of  Gracchus  and  Livius—The 
Senate  begin  to  prevail  —Death  of  Caius  Gracchus  and  Fulvius. 

AT  this  time  the  state  of  Italy  seemed  to  have  received 
the  seeds  of  much  trouble,  and  to  contain  ample  materials  of 
civil  combustion.*  The  citizens,  for  whom  no  provision  had 
been  made  at  their  return  from  military  service,  or  who 
thought  themselves  partially  dealt  \vith  in  the  colonies,  the 
leaders  of  tumult  and  faction  in  the  city,  were  now  taught 
to  consider  the  land-property  of  Italy  as  their  joint  inheri- 
tance. They  were,  in  imagination,  distributing  their  lots, 
and  selecting  their  shares.  In  the  mean  time,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Municipia,  or  free  towns,  and  their  districts,  who, 
not  being  citizens,  served  the  state  as  allies,  had  reason  to 

*  U.  C.  627. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  JG3 

dread  the  rapacity  of  such  needy  and  powerful  masters. 
They  themselves  likewise  began  to  repine  under  the  in  equal  - 
ity  of  their  condition. — They  had  been  made,  by  the  profes- 
sions of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  to  entertain  hopes  that  every 
distinction  in  Italy  would  soon  be  removed,  that  every  free- 
man in  the  country  would  be  enrolled  as  a  citizen  of  Rome, 
and  be  admitted  to  all  the  powers  and  pretensions  implied 
in  that  designation.  The  consideration  of  this  subject,  there- 
fore, could  not  be  long  delayed  ;  and  the  Roman  senate, 
already  struggling  with  attacks  of  their  fellow-citizens,  had 
an  immediate  storm  to  apprehend  from  the  allies. 

The  revolutions  of  the  state  had  been  so  frequent,  and  its 
progress  from  small  beginnings  to  a  great  empire  had  been 
to  rapid,  that  the  changes  to  which  men  are  exposed,  and 
the  exertions  of  which  they  are  capable,  nowhere  appear 
so  conspicuous,  or  are  so  distinctly  marked. 

In  the  first  ages  the  political  importance  of  a  Roman  citi- 
zen appears  not  to  have  been  felt  or  understood.  Conquer- 
ed enemies  were  removed  to  Rome,  and  their  captivity  con- 
sisted in  being  forced  to  be  Romans,  to  which  they  submitted 
with  great  reluctance.*  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  every 
foreigner  was  welcome  to  take  his  place  as  a  Roman  citizen 
in  the  assembly  of  the  people,  that  many  were  admitted  into 
the  senate,  and  some  even  on  the  tin-one.*  It  is  likely  also, 
that  the  first  colonies  considered  themselves  as  detached 
from  the  city  of  Rome,  and  as  forming  cantons  apart ;  for 
we  find  them,  like  the  other  states  of  Italy,  occasionally  at 
war  with  the  Romans. 

But  when  the  sovereignty  of  Italy  came  to  be  established 
at  Rome,  and  was  there  actually  exercised  by  the  collective 
body  of  the  people,  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies,  it  L* 
probable,  laid  claim  to  their  votes  in  elections,  and  presented 
themselves  to  be  enrolled  in  the  tribes.  They  felt  their  con- 
sequence and  their  superiority  over  the  municipia,  or  free 
towns  in  their  neighbourhood,  to  whom,  as  a  mark  of  dis- 
tinction and  an  act  of  munificence,  some  remains  of  inde- 
pendence had  been  left.  Even  in  this  state,  the  rolls  of  the 
people  had  been  very  negligently  compiled,  or  preserved. 
The  kings,  the  consuls,  the  censors,  who  were  the  oHuvr^. 
in  different  ages  of  the  state,  intrusted  with  the  musters* 
admitted  on  the  rolls  such  as  presented  themselves,  or  such 
as  they  chose  to  receive.  One  consul  invited  all  the  free 
inhabitants  of  Latium  to  poll  in  the  assemblies  of  the  people  ; 
another  rejected  them,  and  in  time  of  elections  forbid  them 
the  city.— But  notwithstanding  this  proliibition,  aliens  that 

•  Tarquinius   Priscus  was  of  Greek  extraction,  and  an  alien  from 

Tarquinii. 


JLJ4  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

\vere  brought  to  Rome  on  a  foot  of  captivity,  were  suffered 
by  degrees  to  mix  with  the  citizens.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
free  towns,  removing  to  Rome  upon  any  creditable  footing, 
found  easy  admission  on  the  rolls  of  some  tribe.  The  towns 
complained  they  were  depopulated.  The  Romans  endea- 
voured to  shut  the  gates  of  their  city  by  repeated  scrutinies, 
and  the  prohibition  of  surreptitious  enrolments  :  but  in  vain. 
The  practice  still  continued,  and  the  growing  privilege, 
distinction,  and  eminence  of  a  Roman  citizen  made  that 
title  become  the  great  object  of  individuals,  and  of  entire 
cantons.  It  had  already  been  bestowed  upon  districts  whose 
inhabitants  were  not  distinguished  by  any  singular  merit 
with  the  Roman  state.  In  this  respect  all  the  allies  were 
nearly  equal ;  they  had  regularly  composed  at  least  one  half 
»n  every  Roman  army,  and  had  borne  an  equal  share  in  all 
the  dangers  and  troubles  of  the  commonwealth ;  and,  from 
having  valued  themselves  of  old  on  their  separate  titles  and 
national  distinctions,  they  began  now  to  aspire  to  a  share 
in  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire,  and  wished  to  sink  for  ever 
their  provincial  designations  under  the  general  title  ot 
Romans. 

Not  only  the  great  power  that  was  enjoyed  in  the  assem- 
bly of  the  people,  and  the  serious  privileges  that  were  be- 
stowed by  the  Porcian  law,  but  even  the  title  of  citizen  in 
Italy,  of  legionary  soldier  in  the  field,  and  the  permission  of 
wearing  the  Roman  gown,  were  now  ardently  coveted  as 
marks  of  dignity  and  honour.  The  city  was  frequented  by 
persons  who  hoped  separately  to  be  admitted  in  the  tribes, 
aad  by  numbers  who  crowded  from  the  neighbouring  can- 
tons, on  every  remarkable  day  of  assembly,  still  flattering 
themselves,  that  the  expectations  which  Gracchus  had 
raised  on  this  important  subject  might  soon  be  fulfilled. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  the  senate  authorized  Junius 
Pennus,  one  of  the  tribunes,  to  move  the  people  for  an  edict 
to  prohibit,  on  days  of  election  or  public  assembly,  this 
••oncourse  of  aliens,  and  requiring  all  the  country  towns  to 
lay  claim  to  their  denizens,  who  had  left  their  own  corpora- 
tions to  act  the  part  of  citizens  at  Rome.* 

On  this  occasion,  Caius  Gracchus,  the  brother  of  the  late 
unfortunate  tribune,  stood  forth,  and  made  one  of  the  first 
appearances  in  which  he  showed  the  extent  of  Ms  talents, 
as  well  as  the  party  he  was  likely  to  espouse  in  the  com- 
monwealth. This  young  man,  being  about  twenty  years  of 
ag-e  when  the  troubles  raised  by  his  elder  brother  had  so 
much  ditturbed  the  republic,  and  when  they  had  ended  so 

*   U.  C.  627. 


CH.  HI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  1G5 

fatally  for  himself,  had  retired  upon  that  catastrophe  from 
Uie  public  view.  His  retirement  he  spent  in  such  studies  as 
were  then  come  into  repute,  on  account  of  their  importance, 
.4$  a  preparation  for  the  business  of  courts  of  justice,  of  the 
vmate,  and  of  the  popular  assemblies  ;  and  the  first  appear- 
ance he  made  gave  evidence  of  the  talents  he  had  acquired 
ibr  these  several  departments.  The  cause  of  the  country 
•owns,  in  which  he  iio\v  engaged,  was  however  fraught 
.\dth  so  much  confusion  to  the  state,  and  tended  so  much  to 
lessen  the  political  consequence  of  those  who  were  already 
citizens,  that  the  argument  in  favour  of  the  resolution  to 
purge  the  city  of  aliens  prevailed,  and  an  act  to  that  purpose 
accordingly  Avas  passed  in  the  assembly  of  the  people. 

The  fires  of  sedition  which  had  some  time  preyed  on  the 
commonwealth  were  likely  to  break  out  with  increasing 
force  upon  the  promotion  of  Fulvius  Flaccus  to  the  dignity 
of  first  magistrate.*  This  factious  citizen  had  blown  up  the 
flame  with  Tiberius  Gracchus,  and  having  succeeded  him 
in  the  commission  for  executing  the  Agrarian  law,  began 
tl.e  functions  of  his  office  by  proposing  a  law  to  communi- 
cate the  right  of  citizens  to  the  allies  or  free  inhabitants  01 
Italy  ;  a  measure  which  tended  to  weaken  the  power  of  the 
senate,  and  to  increase  the  number  of  citizens  greatly 
beyond  what  could  be  assembled  in  one  collective  body. 
Having  failed  in  this  attempt,  he  substituted  a  proposal  in 
appearance  more  mod  era*  c,  but  equally  dangerous,  that 
whoever  claimed  the  right  of  citizen,  in  case  of  being  cast 
by  the  censors,  who  were  the  proper  judges,  might  appeal 
to  the  people. 

When  the  consul  appeared  to  be  fairly  entered  on  hi* 
career,  and,  by  uniting  the  power  of  the  supreme  magistracy 
with  that  of  a  commissioner  for  dividing  the  property  ot 
lands,  was  likely  to  break  through  all  the  forms  which  had 
hitherto  retarded  the  execution  of  the  Agrarian  law,  ho 
was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  assemble  the  senate,  and 
to  take  his  place.  The  whole  body  joined  in  representations 
against  these  dangerous  measures  and  in  a  request  that  he 
would  withdraw  his  motions.  To  tln»sf»  applications  he 
made  no  reply  ;  but  an  occasion  soon  ottered,  by  winch  the 
senate  was  enabled  to  divert  him  from  his  purpose.  A 
deputation  arrived  from  Marseilles,  then  in  alliance  with 
Rome/  to  entreat  the  support  of  the  republic  against  the 
Salyii,  a  neighbouring  nation,  who  had  invaded  their  territor- 
ies. The  senate  gladly  embraced  this  opportunity  to  find  a 
foreign  employment  lor  the  consul,  decreed  a  speedy  aid  to 

*  U.  C.  6-2S. 
P 


166  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

the  city  of  Marseilles,  and  appointed  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus  t* 
that  service. 

In  this  interval  soon  appeared  how  seriously  the  claimf 
of  citizenship  were  adopted  by  the  country  towns  ;  for  tli« 
inhabitants  already  bestirred  themselves,  and  were  begin 
ning  to  devise  how  they  might  extort  by  force  what  they 
were  not  likely  to  obtain  with  the  consent  of  the  origina* 
denizens  of  Rome.  A  suspicion  having  arisen  of  such 
treasonable  concerts  forming  at  Fregellae,  the  preto* 
Opimius  had  a  special  commission  to  inquire  into  the  mattei 
and  to  proceed  as  he  should  find  the  occasion  required. 
Having  summoned  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place  to  ap- 
pear before  him,  he  received,  upon  a  promise  of  doing  no 
violence  to  his  person,  full  information  of  the  combinations 
that  had  been  forming  against  the  government  of  Rome. 
So  instructed,  he  assembled  such  a  force  as  was  necessary 
to  support  him  in  asserting  the  authority  of  the  state ; 
and  thinking  it  necessary  to  give  a  striking  example  in  a 
manner  of  so  dangerous  and  infectious  a  nature,  he  ordered 
the  place  to  be  razed  to  the  ground. 

By  this  act  of  severity,  the  designs  of  the  allies  were  for 
a  while  suspended,  and  might  have  been  entirely  suppressed, 
if  the  factions  at  Rome  had  not  given  them  fresh  encourage- 
ment and  hopes  of  success  or  impunity.*  This  transaction 
was  scarcely  past,  when  Caius  Gracchus  who  had  been 
acting  as  proquestor  in  Sardinia,  appeared  in  the  city 
to  solicit  the  office  of  tribune ;  and,  by  his  presence,  revived 
the  hopes  of  the  allies.  Having  observed,  that  the  procon- 
sul Aurelius  Cotta,  under  whom  he  served,  instead  of  being 
recalled,  was  continued  in  his  command,  and  furnished  with 
reinforcements  and  supplies  of  every  sort  as  for  a  service  of 
long  duration ;  and  suspecting  that  this  measure  was  pointed 
at  himself,  and  proceeded  from  a  design  to  keep  him  at  a 
distance  from  the  popular  assemblies,  he  quitted  his  station 
m  Sardinia,  and  returned  without  leave.  He  was  called  to 
•iccount  by  the  censors  for  deserting  his  duty ;  but  defended 
himself  with  such  ability  and  force,  as  greatly  raised  the 
expectations  which  had  already  been  entertained  by  his 
party. 

The  law,  he  said,  required  him  only  to  carry  arms  ten 
years,  he  had  actually  carried  them  twelve  years ;  although 
he  might  legally  have  quitted  his  station  of  questor  at  the 
expiration  of  one  year,  yet  he  had  remained  in  it  three 
years.  However  willing  the  censors  may  have  been  to 
lemove  this  pest  from  the  commonwealth,  they  were  too 


CH.  III.]  HUMAN'  REPUBLIC.  167 

weak  to  attempt  any  censure  in  tins  state  of  his  cause,  and 
in  tlie  present  humour  of  the  people.  They  endeavoured 
in  vain  to  load  him  with  a  share  in  the  plot  of  Frcgelloe; 
he  still  exculpated  himself:  and,  if  he  had  possessed  every 
virtue  of  a  citizen,  in  proportion  to  his  resolution,  applica- 
tion, eloquence,  and  even  severity  of  manners,  he  might 
have  been  a  powerful  support  to  the  state.  In  a  speech  to 
the  people,  on  his  return  from  Sardinia,  he  concluded  with 
the  following  remarkable  words:  "The  purse  which  1 
carried  full  to  the  province,  I  have  brought  empty  back. 
Others  empty  the  wine  casks  which  they  carry  from  Italy, 
and  bring  them  from  the  provinces  replenished  writh  silver 
and  gold." 

In  declaring  himself  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  tribune, 
Caius  Gracchus  professed  his  intention  to  propose  many 
popular  laws.  The  senate  exerted  all  their  influence  to 
disappoint  his  views  ;  but  such  were  the  expectations  of  the 
popular  party  throughout  all  Italy,  that  they  crowded  to 
the  election  in  greater  numbers  than  could  find  place  in  the 
public  square.  They  handed  and  reached  out  their  ballots 
at  the  windows  and  over  the  battlements ;  and  Gracchus, 
though  elected,  was,  in  consequence  of  the  opposition  given 
to  him,  only  fourth  in  the  list. 

Cornelia,  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  who,  ever  since  the 
death  of  her  son  Tiberius,  lived  in  retirement  in  Campania, 
upon  hearing  of  the  career  which  her  son,  Caius,  was  likely 
to  run,  alarmed  at  the  renewal  of  a  scene-which  had  already 
occasioned  her  so  much  sorrow,  expostulated  with  him  on 
the  course  he  was  taking  ;  and,  in  an  unaffected  and  passion- 
ate address,  spoke  that  ardent  zeal  for  the  republic,  by 
which  the  citizens  of  Rome  had  been  long  distinguished. 

Her  expostulations  do  not  appear  to  have  had  any  effect. 
Caius,  upon  his  accession  to  the  tribunate,  proceeded  to 
fulfil  the  expectations  of  his  party.  The  Agrarian  law, 
though  still  in  force,  had  met  with  continued  interruption 
and  delay  in  the  execution.  It  was  even  falling  into  neglect. 
Caius  thought  proper,  as  the  first  act  of  his  magistracy,  to 
move  a  renewal  and  confirmation  of  it,  with  express  in- 
junctions, that  there  should  be  an  annual  distribution  of 
land  to  the  poorer  citizens.  To  this  he  subjoined,  in  t  lie  lir>t 
year  of  his  office,  a  variety  of  regulations  tending  either  to 
increase  his  popularity,  or  to  distinguish  his  administration. 

Among  these  was  an  act  to  regulate  the  conditions  of  the 
military  service,  by  which  no  one  was  obliged  to  enter 
before  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  by  which  Roman  soldiers 
were  to  receive  clothing  as  well  as  pay  ;  possibly  the  first 
introduction  of  »  uniform  into  the  Roman  legions :  a  car- 


KJ8  HISTORY  OF  THK  [B.  11. 

cumstanee  which,  in  modern  times,  is  thought  so  essential 
to  the  character  of  troops,  and  the  appearance  of  an  army. 

By  the  celebrated  law  of  Porcius,  which  allowed  of  an 
appeal  to  the  people,  every  citizen  had  a  remedy  against 
any  oppressive  sentence  or  proceeding  of  the  executive 
magistrate ;  but  this  did  not  appear  to  Gracchus  a  sufficient 
restraint  on  the  officers  of  state.  He  proposed  to  have  it 
enacted,  that  no  person,  under  pain  of  a  capita*  punishment, 
should  at  all  proceed  against  a  citizen  without  a  special 
commission  or  warrant  from  the  people  to  that  effect. 
And  he  proposed  to  give  this  law  a  retrospect,  in  order  t( 
comprehend  Popilius  Lsenas  who,  being  consul  in  the  year 
after  the  troubles  occasioned  by  Tiberius  Gracchus,  had, 
under  the  authority  of  the  senate  alone,  proceeded  to  try 
and  condemn  such  as  were  accessary  to  that  sedition. 
Laenas  perceived  the  storm  that  was  gathering  against  him, 
and  chose  to  avoid  it  by  a  voluntary  exile.  This  act  was 
indeed  almost  an  entire  abolition  of  government,  and  a  bar 
to  the  exercise  of  such  ordinary  powers  as  were  necessary 
to  the  peace  of  the  commonwealth :  but,  as  we  find  no 
change  in  the  proceedings  of  the  state  upon  this  new  regu- 
lation, it  is  probable  that  the  absurdity  of  the  law  prevented 
its  effect. 

Under  Caius  Gracchus  much  public  business,  that  used 
/>  pass  through  the  senate,  was  engrossed  by  the  popular 
assemblies.  Even  in  the  fonn  of  these  assemblies,  all  ap- 
pearance of  respect  to  the  senate  was  laid  aside.  The  rostra, 
or  platform  on  which  the  presiding  magistrate  stood,  was 
placed  in  the  middle  of  an  area,  of  which  one  part  was  the 
market-place,  surrounded  with  stalls  and  booths  for  mer- 
chandise, and  the  courts  of  justice ;  the  other  part  called 
the  comitium,  was  open  to  receive  the  people  in  their  public 
assemblies  ;  and  on  one  side  of  it,  fronting  the  rostra,  or 
bench  of  the  magistrates,  stood  the  curia,  or  senate-house. 
The  people,  when  any  one  was  speaking,  stood  partly  in 
the  market-place,  and  partly  in  the  comitium.  The  speakers 
directed  their  voice  to  the  comitium,  so  as  to  be  heard  in  the 
seriate.  This  disposition,  Gracchus  reserved ;  and  directing 
his  voice  to  the  forum,  or  market-place,  seemed  to  displace 
the  senate,  and  deprive  that  body  of  their  office  as  watch- 
men and  guardians  of  the  public  order  in  matters  that  came 
before  the  popular  assemblies. 

At  the  time  that  this  active  tribune  engaged  the  minds  of 
his  contemporaries,  and  furnished  history  chiefly  with  these 
effects  of  his  factious  and  turbulent  spirit,  it  is  observed, 
that  he  himself  executed  works  of  general  utility  ;  bridges, 
highways,  and  other  public  accommodations  through  Italy. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  1G9 

And  that  the  state  having  carried  its  arms,  for  the  first 
time,  over  the  Alps,  happily  terminated  the  war  Avith  the 
Salyii,  a  nation  of  Gaul,  whose  territory  became  the  first 
province  of  Rome  in  that  country.  And  that  Cains  Sextius. 
consul  of  the  preceding  year,  was  authorized  to  place  a 
colony  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  hot  springs,  which,  from 
his  name,  were  called  the  Aquae  Sextiae,  and  are  still  known 
by  a  corruption  of  the  same  appellation. 

From  Asia,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  reported,  that 
Ariarathes,  the  king  of  Cappadocia,  and  ally  of  the  Romans, 
was  murdered,  at  the  instigation  of  Mithridates,  king  of 
Pontus,  whose  sister  he  had  married ;  that  he  had  left  a  sou 
{or  whom  Mithridates  affected  to  secure  the  kingdom ;  but 
that  the  widowed  queen  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
Nicomedes,  king  of  Bithynia,  this  prince,  in  her  right,  had 
taken  possession  of  Cappadocia,  while  Mithridates,  in  name 
of  his  nephew,  was  hastening  to  remove  him  from  thence. 
On  this  subject  a  resolution  was  declared  in  the  assembly 
of  the  people  at  Rome,  that  both  Nicomedes  and  Mithridates 
should  be  required  immediately  to  evacuate  Cappadocia, 
and  to  withdraw  their  troops. 

Gracchus,  on  the  approach  of  the  election  of  consuls,  em- 
ployed all  his  credit  and  influence  to  support  Caius  Fannius,, 
in  opposition  to  Opimius,  who,  by  his  vigilance  and  activity 
in  suppressing  the  treasonable  designs  of  the  allies  at  Fre- 
gellae,  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  popular  party ; 
and  Fannius  being  accordingly  chosen,  together  with  Cn 
Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  Gracchus  proceeded  to  otter  him- 
self as  a  candidate  to  be  re-elected  into  the  office  of  tribune.  * 
In  this  he  followed  the  example  of  his  brother  Tiberius  in 
a  step,  which,  being  reckoned  illegal  as  well  as  alarming 
\vas  that  which  hastened  his  ruin.  However,  in  virtue  of 
ii  clause  in  one  of  his  own  lately  passed  popular  acts,  he  was 
returned  in  preference  to  one  of  the  n«*w  candidates,  and 
greatly  strengthened  the  tribunitian  power  by  the  prosjuvt 
of  its  repeated  renewals,  and  duration  for  an  indefinite  time. 

Upon  his  re-election,  Caius,  continuing  his  administra- 
tion upon  the  same  plan  of  animosity  to  the  senate,  obtained 
a  law  to  deprive  that  body  of  the  share  which  his  brother 
had  left  them  in  the  courts  of  justice;  and  ordaining,  that 
the  judges,  for  the  future,  should  bi>  draughted  from  Hie 
equestrian  order  alone,  a  class  of  im-n,  who,  being  left  out  o/ 
the  senate,  and  of  course  not  comprehended  in  the  laws  tliat 
prohibited  commerce,  had  betaken  themselves,  as  has  been 
•bservod,  to  lucrative  professions,  were  the  formers  of  the 

*  C.  C.  CM. 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B,  R 

revenue,  the  contractors  for  the  army,  and,  in  general,  the 
merchants  who  conducted  the  whole  trade  of  the  republic. 
Though  they  might  be  considered  as  neutral  in  the  disputes 
of  the  senate  and  people,  and  therefore  impartial  where  the 
other  orders  were  biassed,  there  was  no  class  of  men  more 
likely  to  prostitute  the  character  of  judges  for  interest 
or  a<-tual  hire.  This  revolution  in  the  courts  of  justice 
accordingly  may  have  contributed  greatly  to  hasten  the 
approaching  corruption  of  manners,  and  the  disorders  of 
the  government. 

The  next  ordinance  prepared  by  Gracchus,  or  ascribed  to 
him,  related  to  the  nomination  of  officers  to  govern  the 
provinces ;  and,  if  it  had  been  strictly  observed,  might  have 
made  some  compensation  for  the  former.  The  power  of 
naming-  such  officers  was  committed  to  the  senate,  and  the- 
arrangements  were  to  be  annually  made  before  the  election 
of  consuls.  This  continued  to  be  law,  but  was  often  over- 
ruled by  the  people. 

In  the  same  year,  the  boldest  and  most  dangerous  project 
that  had  ever  been  formed  by  any  of  Lie  popular  leaders, 
that  for  admitting  the  Italian  allies  upon  the  rolls  of  the 
Roman  people,  already  attempted  by  Fulvius  Flaccus,  was 
again  renewed  by  Caius  Gracchus ;  aud,  upon  the  utmost 
exertion  of  the  vigilance  and  authority  of  the  senate,  with 
great  difficulty  prevented.  During  the  dependence  of  this 
question,  Gracchus  flattered  the  poorer  citizens  with  the 
prospect  of  advantageous  settlements,  in  certain  new  colo- 
nies, of  six  thousand  men  each,  which  he  proposed  to  plant  in 
the  districts  of  Campania  and  Tarentum,  the  most  cultivated 
parts  of  Italy,  and  in  colonies,  which  he  likewise  proposed 
to  send  abroad  into  some  of  the  richest  provinces. 

The  senate,  attacked  by  such  popular  arts,  resolved  to 
retort  on  their  adversaries ;  and  for  this  purpose  instructed 
Marcus  Livius,  another  of  the  tribunes,  to  take  such 
measures  as  should,  if  possible,  supplant  Gracchus  in  the 
favour  of  the  people.  Livius,  professing  to  act  in  concert 
with  the  senate,  proposed  a  number  of  acts  :  one  to  con- 
ciliate the  minds  of  the  allies,  by  giving  them,  while  they 
served  in  the  army,  the  same  exemption  from  corporeal 
punishment,  which  the  Roman  citizens  had  enjoyed. 

Another  for  the  establishment  of  twelve  different  colonies, 
each  of  three  thousand  citizens.  But  what,  possibly,  had 
the  greatest  effect,  because  it  appeared  to  exceed  in  muni- 
ficence all  the  edicts  of  Gracchus,  Avas  an  exemption  of  all 
those  lands,  which  should  be  distributed  in  terms  of  the 
late  Sempronian  law,  from  all  quit-rents  and  public  burden*, 
which  had  hitherto,  in  general,  been  laid  ou  all  possessions 


CM.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  171 

that  were  held  from  the  public.  It  was  proposed  to  name 
ten  commissioners  to  distribute  lands  thus  unincumbered, 
to  the  people ;  and  three  colonies  are  mentioned,  Syllaceum, 
rarentum,  and  Neptunia,  as  having  been  actually  sent 
abroad  this  year,  and  probably  on  these  terms. 

About  the  same  time  it  was  decreed,  that  the  city  of 
Carthage  might  b«  rebuilt  for  the  reception  of  a  colony  of 
six  thousand  Roman  citizens.  This  decree  bears  the  name, 
not  of  Sempronius  or  of  Livius,  but  of  Rubrius,  another 
tribune  of  the  same  year. 

The  senate  readily  agreed  to  the  settlement  of  these  colon- 
ies, as  likely  to  carry  oft'  a  number  of  the  more  factious  citi- 
zens, and  to  furnish  an  opportunity  likewise  of  removing  from 
the  city,  for  some  time,  the  popular  leaders  themselves,  under 
pretence  of  employing  them  to  conduct  and  to  settle  the  fami- 
lies destined  to  form  those  establishments.  Accordingly, 
Cains  Gracchus,  and  Fulvius  Flaccus,  late  consul,  and  now 
deeply  engaged  in  all  these  factious  measures,  were  destined 
to  take  charge  of  the  new  colonists,  and  to  superintend 
their  settlement. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  senate,  in  the  election  of  Opimius 
to  the  consulship  of  the  following  year,  carried  an  impor- 
tant object  to  the  reputation  and  interest  of  their  party, 
and  conceived  hopes  of  being  able,  by  the  authority  of  this 
magistrate,  to  combat  the  designs  of  Gracchus  more 
effectually  than  they  had  hitherto  done.  He  was  accord- 
ingly retained  in  the  administration  of  affairs  in  Italy,  while 
his  colleague,  Fabius,  was  appointed  to  command  in  Gaul. 
Cains  Gracchus,  having  the  presumption  to  offer  himself  a 
third  time  candidate  for  the  office  of  tribune,  was  rejected, 
and  had  the  mortification  to  find,  that  the  authority  of  the 
senate  began  to  prevail ;  and,  as  they  had  credit  enough  to 
procure  his  exclusion  from  any  share  in  the  magistracy,  so 
they  might  be  able  to  frustrate  or  reverse  many  of  the  acts 
he  had  obtained  in  favour  of  his  party. 

By  the  repulse  of  Gracchus  and  his  associates,  the  aris- 
tocratical  party  came  to  have  a  majority,  even  in  the  college 
of  tribunes.  Much  violence  was  expected,  and  the  different 
parties,  recollecting  what  had  happened  in  the  case  of  Ti- 
berius Gracchus,  took  measures  not  to  be  surprised  by  their 
antagonists  ;  for  the  most  part  came  to  the  place  of  assem- 
bly in  bands,  even  under  arms,  and  endeavoured  to  possess 
the  advantage  of  the  ground  as  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy. 

Minucius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  in  consequence  of  a  reso- 
le tion  of  the  senate,  pretending  that  he  was  moved  by  some 

•  U.C.  632. 


172  HISTORY   01-'  Till-.  [It.  II 

iin!.t\  ..nia'.le  pi  r  ;!••<•  ,  proponed  ;i  repeal  or  amendment  of 
Home  of  I hr  late  popular  acln  ;  mill  particularly,  1o  chan^' 
llu-  •!.•  Ini.ilion  nl  MM-  c.dony  int. -ii, I, •, I  l..i  Cai  llmtfejosotne 
oil. .-i  place.  Tin  .  motion  \VJIH  Nlienuou  ly  oppo  ..-,|  l,v  In! 
\  in  riaccu  ,,  and  hy  Cams  <.ia.  chu  ,  who  treated  I  lie  i  cpoi  I 
ol  pie.a»es  IMUII  \ln.a  :n  ;i  mere  fidion,  and  tin*  whole 
ilesi;;n  as  proceeding  from  tlm  invel.  i.-.le  hatred  ol  the 
IlohlON  tO  tllO  fHMIplo.  r.clorelhi  asslMlll.ly  met,  ill  ulnch  I  In. 
qne  IM.II  u.i.  to  I..-  decided,  these  popular  leaders  attcinpt- 
«N|  to  H«^i/.o  (\\<i  «-aj)itol,  hut  W<T«  pi cvcnt.i'd  hy  the  consul, 
Who  had  ulnMidy  with  an  armed  force,  secured  lli.il  .tai  i«n 

III    the    inoiniir-    .ill.-t     Ili.-y   li:i.|    iccnv<|    I  In  .  il  i   appoint 
Ilieill,  the  peo|il<>  hrill;;   :i  .  .einl,l,-«l,  .m.l   (he  con    ul  IHMII-  .MM 
ployed    in   ollei  in;1;     up   the  cu.lomary    sacrilicei,  ( .1  ncrlni   , 
\vilh    In  .   paity,  came   to  their  place  in  (he  coinil  iur 
ol'  the   alliMHhiul  ,    ol   the  con.nl,   \\lio   was  carryin 

II i. trail,    ol    the     victim,      reproached     Cniccliu 

pa     .-.I.  with    .c.lMion,  and  hid   him  de  i  I  hum  In  i 

ti.ni,   a-.ain   t    I  he   government    ol    I  lie  commonueall  h.      On 

II, i.   provocalion,   < .1    the  parly   ol    ( ;i  acclni  ;  slru.-U    the 

r.n.  nl  olhcei  uith  his  da-;.:ei  .  :m.|  killed  him  oil  the  p.. I 
'I'he  cry  of  murder  ran  lhron;;h  the  mnllilude,  and  tllO 
iiH.emhly  l.ev.an  to  hreaU  up.  Cracchir.  endeavouied  to 
bpcalv,  hut  could  not.  he  heard  lot  the  tumnll;  and  all 
thought  ,  ol  husiness  were  laid  a  ide.  The  con  nl  mime 
diately  suinmoned  the  sciuilf  to  meet  ;  ami  havin;;  repor 
ted  uhal  had  happen, -d  in  I  he  ronnl  mm  .  and  \v  hat  appeal  e<l 
t.»  him  the  In  ,1  act  ol  ho.tilily  in  a  uar,  \\  hich  the  popular 
ladion  hadpr.-paredarain  ,1  the  stale,  he  received  I  he  .1,:,.  •.- 
that  was  u  ,ual  on  perilous  occasions,  to  provide,  in  I  he 
manner  u  Inch  lihown  prudence  should  direct,  lor  I  he  safety 
of  the  commonwealth.  Tims  authoii/ed.  he  commanded 
the  senators  and  the  l.ni-ht  (..  arm,  and  mad.-  proper  di  . 
po.itmn,  to  -.ecnre  the  principal  -.t  reels.  I'.ein;;  ma  terof 
the  capilol  and  lorum,  he  adjourned  the  a  ruddy  olthi> 
people  to  the  usual  place  on  the  following  day,  ui:d  cited 
the  persons  accused  ol  the  murder  to  answer  lor  the  crime 
u  In.  h  was  laid  to  t  heir  chin  ;;e. 

In  consequence!  ol  this  adjournment,  and  the  conmil'H  in- 
ftiuctions,  immherH  in  arms,  repaired  to  the,  comiliumat. 
the  hour  of  us  .emhly,  and  \\  ere  ready  to  execulesuch  orderrt 
n.lhey  mi-'lil  i  e<-ei  ve  lor  t  he  piihlic  salel  y.  <  -racchns  and 
I  nl  vm  ,  refused  to  answer  the  citation,  and  the  capital  hein^ 
secured  ii»ainst.  them,  they  took  post,  wilh  a  numerous 
pail  v  in  arms,  on  the  Aventine  hill,  which  was  opposite  to 
the  rapitol,  and  from  which  they  equally  looked  down  on 
l!io  forum  and  plum  of  asHemhly.  Uein^  ngiiln  citod  to  HP- 


i  V.] 

p»-aratth«:  tiil"»ial  of  »h«-  Itoman  p.-opl-,  th.-y  ncrit  a  young 
man,  Ofi«  of  th«  ;x,n».  of  Kiilvi.M,  to  rapitulatft  with  th«-  .*„,- 

».Mi.     1(0  WM  Mixed  by  Uu»  conftul't  orders.    Gracehot  and 

Fulvlui,  with  th<-ir  a*ih«-r«-nK  w«-r*   «l«T.larwl  public  wj*- 

mieef  and  a  reward  WM  offero'l  to  th«  person  who  should 

kill  or  .ITU™  th<-m.  Th.-y  w.-r«-  iin.f:uitly  attai-.k^l,  mi«l, 
»ft.«.r  a  littl'i  rftHjutftruw,  forr^l  from  th.-ir  jfrouiifJ.  r»riMThin 
Jli.«J  by  tlM  woo<l*n  »iri.JK«  to  th<-  ojipoiiti.  »M*  of  t»u-  riv-r, 
iii.'l  w;n  th«-r«.  r.l;u«,  «-.fh«-r  by  hi».  own  hand,  or  by  that  of 
u  fititlifiil  w-rvant,  who  h;ul  tiinliTt.»ik«-ii  lh«-  t;i-.k  of  /.HVK.J.' 

la  hU  iMt  «xtremHy  from  falling  into  tlw  pow«r  of 

hi'.  «-fi«.|fii«'».  l-ulvi.M  w:t*  «lr;tp'K'"l  to  ••xiTntioii  Irorn  ;i 
»mth  whwu  »M»  ftiteinfftAd  to  ronn-ai  hirriM-lf.  'I'h«  h«Nul«  of 
boUi  w..r<-  «-arn«-«l  to  l.h»r  ron».ul,  a/i-J  «-xi  han««-«l  /or  th«- 


I  n  t  hi*  fray  th*  putty  of  tb«  Mmtot  beiof  r*f  ularly  armed 
Md  pr«ptf«d  for  a  »laught«r,  eat  off  th«  adh«n-enU  of  C^iu 

(/r.-uvhn,  ari'l    I-ulviin  in   ifr.-ar.-r  i,.imb«T«  than  th-y    h;ui 

doMtfcoMOf  Tlb«rii«;  t) 

two  liufi.lr.Ml  an»l  fifty  in  th-  v.tr.-.-T  .  an<i    rofifinc.l    Kr.-at 

DlUBbtn,  who  w«r«  ftftorwardt  ttrangi«d  in  UM  pri«on«. 

Th..  hotiM-  of  Kulviu*  wa-.  ra/",l  to  th.r  r/roiin.l.  l.h.-  ar-a 
lai'i  o,,«-n  for  piihlir.  „,«-.  ;  an-l,  from  f  .»„-*,.  b.-Kif,fnnK,,  itap- 

p«Mr«d  that  tlw  Komaiw,  w>.<>  n,  th<  ,.nniaitof  their  fordgn 

rofiqui-nK  hml  M.   lib-rally  nh.»i  th.r  bloo«l  of  oth«r  nations 
might  rn-comi.  «r,ualiy  lavish  of  U,.-ir  own. 


matotfOrAnand  TranquWtV  wHth  ft>Uw*d It*  tuppriiiton if  th* Iri* 

rn /,      i  Coronet  tf  Catut  MaHuf-Fortif*  Vvt-Cnmploinlt 

agabut  /uiwth*i—Apj»*raiu*  of  tht  MmM-lT*  'filh  Ju,- 

/  /•„/,     Juturtha  comtt  to  tomt  »W*  •  *aff- 
Candud-OWgtd  to  rtttrf  from  thine*  -  Campatgn  >•  > 
Mor*,«  ''"W*  *V  lk*chw-IHi  DtatH,  nfltr  U»  /  • 

ofMariia-TUi  Ovural  ri«t*t*d,  in  *rd*r  10  command  again*  Ou 

J  n,   popular  party  had,  in  th*  into  tumolU,  carrlM 
vioUnc«  to  luch  «»xtr«m<?«,  M  ilUjf u»t«d  and  alarmed  evury 


ill-wlvin...|  r,.roiirM.    to    arm,,    bot    t.,o     •..•II    jn-.tifu-l    th- 

meMttTM  which  had  (MM  taken  afain»t  them.    By  Otto 
exertiofi  r,t  rffWV,  the  Menate,  and  ordinary  magistrate*, 

p-rov.-n-lth.-irfofiii.-f  a.ithotity  ;  all;..r  .  f  «-t .iirii«-«l  to  tb.-,r 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

usual  channel,  and  the  most  perfect  order  seemed  to  .arisa 
from  the  late  confusions.  Questions  of  legislation  were 
allowed  to  take  their  rise  in  the  senate,  and  were  not  carried 
to  the  people,  without  the  sanction  of  the  senate's  authority. 

The  aristocratical  party,  notwithstanding  the  ascendant 
they  had  recently  gained,  did  not  attempt  to  rescind  any 
of  the  regular  institutions  of  Gracchus ;  they  were  content- 
ed \Tith  inflicting  punishments  on  those  who  had  been 
accessary  to  the  late  sedition,  and  with  re-establishing  such 
of  the  nobles  as  had  suffered  by  the  violence  of  the  popular 
faction.  Popilius  Lacnas,  for  instance,  driven  into  exile  by 
one  of  the  edicts  of  Gracchus,  or  by  the  persecution  to 
which  it  exposed  him,  was  now  recalled. 

As  the  state  of  parties  was  in  some  measure  reversed, 
Papirius  Carbo  thought  proper  to  withdraw  from  the  po- 
pular side ;  and,  by  the  credit  of  those  now  in  possession  of 
the  government,  was  promoted  to  the  station  of  consul,  and 
yielded  the  first  fruits  of  his  conversion  by  defending  the 
cause  of  his  predecessor  Opimius,  who,  at  the  expiration  of 
his  consulate,  was  brought  to  trial  for  having  put  Roman 
citizens  to  death  without  the  forms  of  law.*  Carbo,  though 
himself  connected  with  those  who  suffered,  now  pleaded 
the  justice  and  necessity  of  the  late  military  executions ; 
and  upon  this  plea,  obtained  the  acquittal  of  his  client. 

This  merit  on  the  part  of  Carbo,  however,  did  not  so  far 
cancel  his  former  offences  as  to  prevent  his  being  tried  and 
condemned  in  the  following  year,  as  an  accomplice  in  the 
sedition  of  Gracchus.  He  was  supposed  to  have  been 
accessary  to  the  death  of  Scipio ;  and  his  cause  not  being 
warmly  espoused  by  any  party,  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  im- 
putation of  his  heinous  crime.  It  is  said,  that,  upon  hearing 
his  sentence,  he  killed  himself. 

About  this  time  the  celebrated  Caius  Marius  began  to 
appear  in  the  public  assemblies  of  the  people.  He  was  a 
person  of  obscure  birth,  and  rustic  manners,  formed  amidst 
the  occupations  of  a  peasant,  and  the  hardships  of  a  legionary 
soldier,  but  of  a  resolute  spirit,  and  insatiable  ambition.  He 
was  a  native  of  Arpinum,  and  without  any  othei  apparent 
title  than  that  of  being  a  denizen  of  Rome,  laid  claim  to  the 
honours  of  the  state. 

Marius,  after  being  disappointed  in  his  first  canvas  for  the 
office  of  tribune,  succeeded  in  the  following  year.  The 
acts  which  were  passed  under  his  tribunate,  carry  no  violent 
expressions  of  party-spirit,  nor  savour  of  that  insatiate  am- 
bition with  which  he  afterwards  distressed  his  country. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  KEPUBLIC.  J75 

From  the  time  that  the  Romans  first  passed  into  the 
Transalpine  Gaul,  as  auxiliaries  to  the  republic  of  Marseilles, 
they  had  kept  on  foot  in  that  neighbourhood  a  military  force ; 
and,  by  planting  colonies  at  convenient  stations,  showed 
their  intention  of  maintaining  possessions  on  that  side  of 
the  Alps.  Betultus,  or  Betultich,  a  prince  of  the  country, 
who  was  supposed  able  to  raise  a  force  of  two  hundred 
thousand  men,  attempted  to  expel  these  intruders,  but  was 
defeated,  first  by  the  proconsul  Fabius,  afterwards  by 
Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  and  furnished  these  generals  with 
the  subject  of  their  respective  triumphs.  This  prince  him- 
self became  a  captive  to  Domitius,  and  was  carried  to  Rome, 
where  he  was  led  in  procession,  distinguished  by  his  painted 
arms  and  his  chariot  of  silver,  the  equipage  in  which  it  was 
said  he  usually  led  his  army  to  battle. 

Quintus  Marcius  succeeded  Domitius  in  the  command  of 
the  forces  which  were  employed  in  Gaul,  and  continued  to 
gain  ground  on  the  natives,  who  appeared  from  different 
cantons  successively  to  resist  his  arms.  He  planted  a  colony 
at  Narbo,  to  strengthen  the  frontier  of  the  newly- acquired 
province  on  one  side ;  and  as  the  Romans  had  hitherto  al- 
ways passed  by  sea  into  that  country,  he  endeavoured  to  open 
a  passage  by  the  Alps  in  order  to  have  a  communication  by 
land  with  Italy  on  the  other. 

But  of  the  foreign  affairs  which  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  Romans,  the  most  memorable  was  the  contest  of  pre- 
tenders to  the  crown  of  Numidia,  which,  by  the  death  of 
Micipsa,  the  son  and  successor  of  Massinissa,  came  to  be 
disposed  of  about  this  time.  The  late  king  had  two  sous, 
Adherbaland  Hiempsal.  He  had  likewise  adopted  Jugurtha 
the  natural  son  of  his  brother  Mastanabal,  whom  he  had 
employed  at  the  head  of  his  armies,  thinking  it  safer  to 
gain  him  by  good  offices,  than  to  provoke  him  by  a  total 
exclusion  from  favour.  He  had  formed  a  project,  frequent 
among  barbarous  and  despotic  sovereigns,  but  always  ruin- 
ous, to  divide  his  territories ;  and  he  hoped  that,  while  he 
provided  for  his  own  sons,  he  should  secure  to  them,  from 
motives  of  gratitude,  the  protection  and  good  offices  of 
Jugurtha,  whom  ho  admitted  to  an  equal  share  with  them 
in  the  partition  of  his  kingdom.  The  consequences  of  this 
mistaken  arrangement  soon  appeared  in  the  distraction* 
that  followed,  and  which  arose  from  the  ambition  of  Jugur- 
tha, to  make  himself  master  of  the  whole.  For  this  purpose 
he  formed  a  secret  design  against  the  lives  of  both  the 
brothers,  of  whom  the  younger,  Hiempsal,  fell  into  his  snare, 
and  was  assassinated.  Adherbal,  being  more  cautious,  obliged 
his  crafty  enemy  to  declare  himself  openly,  took  the  fiel'J 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II 

against  him  with  all  the  forces  he  could  raise,  but  was  de- 
feated, and  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  Roman  province, 
and  from  thence  thought  proper  to  pass  into  Italy,  in  order 
to  lay  his  complaints  before  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome. 

Massinissa,  the  grandfather  of  this  injured  prince,  had  given 
effectual  aid  to  the  Romans  in  their  wars  with  Carthage  ; 
and,  upon  the  final  reduction  of  that  republic,  was  rewarded 
with  a  considerable  part  of  its  spoils.  From  this  time  forward 
the  Romans  expected,  and  the  king  of  Numidia  paid  to  them, 
a  deference  like  that  of  a  vassal  or  tributary  prince  to  his 
sovereign  lord.  Upon  the  faith  of  this  connexion,  Adherbat 
now  carried  his  complaints  to  Rome  ;  and  Jugurtha,  know- 
ing how  ready  the  Romans  were,  in  the  character  of  arbi- 
trators, to  consider  themselves  as  the  sovereigns  of  other 
nations,  thought  proper  to  send  deputies  on  Ids  part,  fur- 
nished with  ample  presents,  to  counteract  the  representations 
of  his  rival. 

This  crafty  adventurer  had  served  under  Scipio  at  the 
siege  of  Numantia,  where  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
observing  the  manners  and  discipline  of  the  Unmans,  and 
accommodated  himself  to  both.  He  was  equally  distinguished 
by  his  implicit  submission  to  command,  as  by  his  impetuous 
courage,  and  by  the  ability  of  his  conduct  in  every  service.  , 

Although  Jugurtha  had  many  partisans  at  Rome,  such 
was  the  injustice  of  his  cause,  or  the  suspicion  of  corruption 
in  those  who  espoused  it,  that  they  durst  not  openly  avow 
their  wishes.  They  endeavoured  to  suspend  the  resolutions 
which  were  in  agitation  against  him,  and  had  the  matter 
referred  to  ten  commissioners  who  should  go  into  Africa, 
and  in  presence  of  the  parties  settle  the  differences  which 
subsisted  between  them.  There  indeed  he  practised  his  art 
on  the  Roman  commissioners  with  better  success  than  he 
had  experienced  with  the  senate  and  people,  prevailing 
upon  them  to  divide  the  kingdom,  and  to  favour  him  in  the 
lot  which  should  be  assigned  to  himself. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  the  Roman  commissioners, 
he  marched  into  the  territories  of  Adherbal,  shut  him  up  in 
the  town  of  Cirta;  and,  while  the  Romans  sent  him  re- 
peated messages  to  desist,  still  continued  the  blockade,  un- 
til the  mercenaries  of  Adherbal,  tired  of  the  hardships  they 
were  made  to  endure,  advised,  and,  by  their  appearing  ready 
to  desert,  forced  him  to  commit  himself  to  the  mercy  of 
Jugurtha,  by  whom  he  was  immediately  put  to  death. 

By  these  events,  in  about  seven  years  from  the  death  of 
Micipsa,  Jugurtha  had  attained  to  the  object  of  his  highest 
desires.  The  greater  part  of  the  Roman  senate,  too, 
whether  acting  on  maxims  of  policy,  or  won  by  the  presents 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  177 

of  Jugurtha,  received  the  complaints  which  were  lodged 
against  him  with  indifference;  but  the  assembly  of  the 
people,  moved  by  the  cries  of  perfidy  and  murder  which 
were  raised  by  the  tribunes,  received  the  representations 
of  his  conduct  with  indignation  and  rage ;  and  a  war 
with  that  prince  was  resolved  on,  although  it  was  likely  to 
be  attended  with  considerable  difficulties. 

About  the  time  that  Adherbal  laid  his  complaints  against 
Jugurtha  before  the  senate  of  Rome,  a  new  enemy  had 
appeared.*  The  north  of  Europe,  or  of  Asia,  had  cast  olf 
a  swarm,  which,  migrating  to  the  south  and  to  the  west, 
\vas  first  descried  by  the  Romans  on  the  frontier  of  Illyri- 
cum,  and  presently  drew  their  attention  to  that  side.  The 
horde  was  said  to  consist  of  three  hundred  thousand 
fighting  men,  conducting  their  families  of  women  and 
children,  and  covering  the  plains  with  their  cattle.  The 
consul  Papirius  Carbo  was  ordered  to  take  post  in  lllyricum, 
to  observe  the  motions  of  this  tremendous  host.  He  was 
alarmed  with  their  seeming  to  point  towards  the  district  of 
Aquileia;  and  putting  himself,  with  too  little  precaution, 
in  their  way,  could  not  withstand  their  numbers,  and  was 
overwhelmed  as  by  a  tempest. 

This  migrating  nation  the  Romans  have  called  by  the 
mime  of  Cimbri,  without  determining  from  whence  they 
came.  It  is  said  that  their  cavalry  amounted  to  no  more 
than  fifteen  thousand  ;  that  it  was  their  practice  to  despise 
horses,  as  well  as  the  other  spoils  of  their  enemies,  which 
they  generally  destroyed:  and  from  this  circumstance  it 
may  be  argued,  that  they  were  not  of  Scythian  extraction, 
nor  sprung  from  those  mighty  plains  in  the  northern  parts 
of  Asia,  where  the  military  force  has  from  time  immemorial 
consisted  of  cavalry,  where  horses  were  valued  above  every 
other  species  of  acquisition  or  property  ;  and  that  they  must 
have  been  bred  amongst  mountains  and  woods,  where  this 
animal  is  not  equally  useful.  On  their  helmets,  which  were 
crested  with  plumes  of  feathers,  they  carried  the  gaping  jaws 
of  wild  beasts.  On  their  bodies  they  wore  breastplates  o/ 
iron,  had  shields  painted  of  a  conspicuous  colour ;  and 
carried  two  missile  javelins  or  darts,  and  a  heavy  sword. 
They  collected  their  fighting  men,  for  the  most  part,  into 
a  solid  square  equally  extending  every  way :  in  one  of  their 
battles  it  was  reported  that  the  sides  of  this  square  extended 
thirty  stadia,  or  between  three  and  four  miles.  The  men 
of  the  foremost  ranks  were  fastened  together  with  chains 
locked  to  their  girdles,  which  made  them  impenetrable 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

to  every  attack,  and  gave  them  the  force  of  a  ton  cut,  iu 
sweeping  obstructions  before  them.  Such  were  the  ac- 
counts with  which  the  Romans  were  alarmed  on  the  ap- 
proach of  tliis  tremendous  enemy. 

Although,  by  the  defeat  of  Carbo,  Italy  lay  open  to  their 
devastations,  yet  they  turned  away  to  the  north  and  the 
westward,  and  keeping-  the  Alps  on  their  left,  made  their 
appearance  again  on  the  frontier  of  the  Roman  province  in 
Narbonne  Gaul,  and  from  thence  passed  into  Spain,  where 
they  continued  to  alarm  Roman  settlements,  and  kept  Rome 
itself  in  suspense,  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  tract  they  might 
afterwards  choose  to  pursue. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs,  when  the  popular  cry  and 
generous  indignation  of  the  Roman  people  forced  the  state 
into  a  war  with  Jugurtha.*  The  consul  Piso  was  appoint- 
ed to  command  in  Numidia.  The  necessary  levies  and 
supplies  for  this  service  were  ordered,  and  a  Roman  army 
prepared  to  embark  for  Africa.  The  war  was  conducted 
at  first  with  great  vivacity  and  success :  but  Jugurtha,  by 
offering  great  public  concessions  or  private  gratifications, 
prevailed  on  the  consul  to  negotiate.  It  was  agreed,  that, 
upon  receiving  a  proper  hostage  on  the  part  of  the  Romans, 
the  king  himself  should  repair  to  their  camp,  in  order  to 
conclude  the  treaty.  In  the  articles  that  were  made  pub- 
lic, the  king  agreed  to  surrender  himself  at  discretion,  and 
to  pay  a  large  contribution  in  horses,  corn,  elephants,  and 
money ;  but  in  secret  articles,  which  were  drawn  up  at  the 
tame  time,  the  consul  engaged  that  the  person  of  the  king 
should  be  safe,  and  that  the  kingdom  of  Numidia  should  be 
secured  to  him. 

During  these  transactions  the  time  of  the  expiration  of 
Piso's  command  drew  near,  and  he  himself  was  called  into 
Italy  to  preside  at  the  approaching  elections.  His  report 
of  the  treaty  with  Jugurtha  was  received  with  suspicion, 
and  the  cry  of  corruption  resumed  by  the  popular  party. 
Upon  this  the  pretor  Cassius  Longinus,  a  person  of  ap- 
proved merit  and  unshaken  integrity,  was  hastened  into 
Africa,  with  positive  instructions  to  bring  the  king  of 
Numidia  to  Rome.  By  the  safe  conduct  which  Cassius 
brought  on  the  part  of  the  republic,  and  by  his  own  assur- 
ances of  protection,  Jugurtha  was  prevailed  on  to  commit 
himself  to  the  faith  of  the  Romans.  He  laid  aside  Ms  kingly 
state  and  attendants,  set  out  for  Italy,  and  appeared  as  a 
iuppliant  at  Rome. 

lu  this  posture  of  affairs  an  incident  took  place,  which 


CH.  IV.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


179 


occasioned  the  sudden  departure  of  the  perfidious  African 
from  Italy.  Massiva,  the  son  of  Gulussa,  being  the  grand- 
son and  natural  representative  of  Massinissa,  and  the  only 
person  besides  Jugurtha  who  remained  of  the  royal  line  of 
Numidia,  had  been  persuaded  by  Albinus,  the  consul  elected 
for  the  ensuing1  year,  to  state  his  pretensions  before  the 
Roman  senate,  and  to  lay  claim  to  the  crown.  Jugurtha, 
though  at  Rome,  and  in  the  power  of  those  who  were  likely 
to  resent  his  crimes,  had  him  assassinated.  The  crime  was 
traced  to  its  author,  but  the  safe  conduct  he  had  received 
could  not  be  violated ;  and  he  was  only  commanded,  with- 
out delay,  to  depart  from  Italy. 

The  consul  Albinus  soon  followed  Jugurtha,  to  take  the 
command  of  the  Roman  army  in  Africa ;  and  being  eager 
to  perform  some  notable  action  before  the  expiration  of  his 
year,  which  was  fast  approaching,  he  urged  the  king  of 
Numidia,  with  all  the  forces  he  could  assemble  in  the 
province ;  but  found  that  he  had  to  do  with  an  enemy  who 
nad  the  art  to  elude  his  impetuosity,  and  from  whose  appar- 
ent conduct  no  judgment  could  be  formed  of  his  real  de- 
signs. * 

By  the  artifices  and  faithlessness  of  Jugurtha,  or  by  the 
remissness  and  credulity  of  nis  antagonist,  the  war  was  pro- 
tracted for  another  year,  and  the  consul,  as  the  time  of  the 
election  drew  near,  was  recalled,  as  usual,  to  preside  in  the 
choice  of  his  successor.  At  his  arrival  the  city  was  in  great 
agitation.  The  cry  of  corruption,  which  had  been  raised 
against  many  of  the  nobles,  on  account  of  their  supposed 
correspondence  with  Jugurtha,  gave  an  advantage  to  the 
popular  party,  and  they  determined  to  improve  it.  Three 
inquisitors  were  named  by  special  commission  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  all  complaints  of  corruption  that  should  bo 
brought  before  them  ;  and  this  commission  was  instant!  y 
employed  to  harass  the  nobility,  and  to  revenge  the  blood 
which  had  been  shed  in  the  late  popular  tumults.  Several 
persons  of  consular  dignity,  fell  a  sacrifice  on  this  ocoii-imi 
to  the  popular  resentment.  The  tribune  Mamilius,  upon 
whose  motion  this  tribunal  had  been  erected,  with  his  asso- 
ciates, finding  themselves  opposed  by  the  influence  of  the 
senate,  suspended,  by  virtue  of  their  tribunitian  power,  the 
election  of  consuls,  and  for  a  whole  year  kept  the  republic 
in  a  state  of  absolute  anarchy. 

In  this  interval  Aulus  Albinus,  left  by  his  brother,  the 
late  consul,  in  the  command  of  the  army  in  Africa,  deter- 
mined to  improve  the  occasion  by  some  honourable  action. 

•  U.  c.  613. 


180  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

He  left  his  quarters  in  the  winter,  and  inarched  far  into  the 
country,  hoping  that  by  force  or  surprise  he  might  possess 
himself  of  the  Numidian  treasures  or  ma<razines.  Jugurtha 
encouraged  him  in  this  design,  atfeeied  iear,  retired  with 
precipitation  wherever  the  Romans  presented  themselves ; 
and,  to  increase  the  presumption  of  their  general,  sent  fre- 
quent messages  to  implore  his  pity.  When  he  had  drawn 
the  Roman  army  into  difficult  situations,  and  prepared  his 
plan  for  execution,  he  suddenly  advanced  in  the  night  to 
the  Roman  station ;  and  the  avenues  being  intrusted,  as  he 
expected,  to  certain  Thracians  and  Ligurians  in  the  Roman 
army  whom  he  had  corrupted,  and  by  Avhom  he  was  suf- 
fered to  pass,  he  surprised  the  Romans  in  their  camp,  and 
drove  them  from  thence  in  great  confusion  to  a  neighbour- 
ing height,  where  they  were  offered  quarter,  on  condition 
that  they  would  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  in  ten  days 
evacuate  his  kingdom. 

These  terms  were  accepted :  but  the  capitulation,  when 
known  at  Rome,  gave  occasion  to  much  indignation  and 
clamour,  and  was  voted  by  the  senate  not  to  be  binding. 

Resentment  of  the  disgraces  incurred  in  Africa,  and  fear 
of  invasion  from  the  Cimbri,  who,  having  traversed  Spain 
and  Gaul,  were  still  on  their  march,  appear  to  have  calmed 
for  a  little  timeJthe  animosity  of  domestic  factions  at  Rome. 
The  consular  elections  were  suffered  to  proceed,  and  the 
choice  of  the  people  fell  on  Quintus  Caecilius  Metellus  and 
M.  Junius  Silanus ;  the  first  was  appointed  to  the  command 
of  the  army  in  Numidia,  the  second  to  observe  the  motions 
frf  the  Cimbri  on  the  frontiers  of  (iaul,  and  to  turn  them 
aside,  if  possible,  from  the  territory  of  Rome.*  About  this 
time  those  wandering  nations  had  sent  a  formal  message  to 
the  Romans,  desiring  to  have  it  understood  on  what  lands 
vhey  may  settle,  or  rather,  over  what  lands  they  might  pass 
In  migration  with  their  herds.  This  request  being  refused 
by  the  senate,  they  opened  a  passage  by  force,  overcame  in 
battle  the  consul  Silanus,  and,  probably  without  intending 
to  retain  any  conquest,  continued  to  move  wherever  the 
aspect  of  the  country  tempted  their  choice. 

Metellus  proceeded  to  Africa  with  a  considerable  rein- 
forcement ;  and,  had  frequent  messages  from  Jugurtha, 
with  professions  of  submission  and  of  a  pacific  disposition. 
On  his  joining  the  Roman  army,  too,  and  leading  them 
into  the  territory  of  Numidia,  he  found  the  country  pre- 
pared to  receive  them  in  a  friendly  manner ;  the  people  in 
tranquillity,  the  gates  of  every  city  left  open,  and  the  mar- 
kets ready  to  supply  them  with  necessaries. 
*  u.  C.  644. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  181 

Thesfl  appearances,  with  the  known  character  of  Ju- 
gurtha, creating  distrust,  only  excited  the  vigilance  of  Me- 
tellns.  They  even  provoked  him  to  retort  on  the  Numi- 
dian  his  own  insidious  arts.  He  tampered  with  Bo- 
milcar,  and  the  other  messengers  of  Jugurtha  to  betray 
their  master,  and  promised  them  great  rewards  if  they 
would  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  either 
living  or  dead. 

Jugurtha,  trusting  to  the  effect  of  his  submissive  mes- 
sages in  rendering  the  enemy  secure,  waited  for  them  on 
the  descents  of  a  high  mountain,  over  which  they  were  to 
pass  in  their  way  to  the  Muthul,  a  river  which  helped  to 
form  a  situation  of  which  he  designed  to  avail  himself.  He 
accordingly  lay  concealed  by  its  banks,  until  the  enemy 
actually  fell  into  the  snare  he  had  laid  for  them.  With  the 
advantage  of  the  ground  and  of  numbers,  he  maintained, 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  a  contest  with  troops 
who  possessed,  against  his  irregulars,  a  great  superiority  of 
order,  discipline,  and  courage;  but  not  having  found  the 
Romans,  as  he  expected,  in  any  degree  off  their  guard,  he 
was,  in  the  event  of  that  day's  action,  obliged  to  fly  with  a 
few  horse  to  a  remote  part  of  his  kingdom. 

Metellus,  after  the  late  engagement,  finding  no  enemy  iu 
the  field,  was  for  some  time  uncertain  to  what  part  of  the 
kingdom  Jugurtha  had  directed  his  flight.  But  having  in- 
telligence that  he  was  in  a  new  situation  assembling  an 
army,  and  likely  to  form  one  still  more  numerous  than  any 
he  had  yet  brought  into  the  field,  tired  of  pursuing  an 
enemy  on  whom  defeats  had  so  little  effect,  he  turned  away 
to  the  richer  and  more  cultivated  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Here  the  plunder  of  the  country  might  better  repay  his 
labour,  and  the  enemy,  if  he  ventured  to  defend  his  terri- 
tory, might  more  sensibly  feel  his  defeats.  Jugurtha  per- 
ceiving his  intention,  drew  his  forces  towards  the  same 
quarter,  arid  soon  appeared  in  his  rear. 

While  Metellus  was  endeavouring  to  force  the  city  of 
Zama,  Jugurtha  pierced  into  his  camp,  and,  though  repulsed 
from  thence,  took  a  post,  by  which  he  made  the  situation 
of  the  Romans,  between  the  town  and  his  own  army,  so 
uneasy,  as  to  oblige  them  to  raise  the  siege.  Upon  this 
the  Numidian  prince  made  an  offer  to  surrender  at  dis- 
cretion, and  actually  delivered  up  great  part  of  his  arms 
and  military  stores  ;  but  this  purpose,  if  ever  sincere,  he 
retracted,  and  again  had  recourse  to  arms. 

The  victory  which  had  been  obtained  in  Africa,  flattered 
the  vanity  of  the  Roman  people,  and  procured  to  Mctellus, 

a 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

in  the  quality  of  proconsul,  a  continuation  of  his  former 
command.* 

But  the  success  of  Metellus  did  not  hasten  the  ruin  of 
Jugurtha  so  fast  as  his  own  misconduct,  in  the  jealous  and 
sanguinary  measures  which  he  took  to  suppress  plots  and 
conspiracies,  either  real  or  supposed  to  be  formed  against 
lus  life,  by  persons  the  most  in  his  confidence. 

Bomilcar,  still  carrying  in  his  mind  the  otters  which  had 
been  made  by  Metellus,  and  willing  to  have  some  merit 
with  the  Romans,  into  whose  hands  he  and  all  the  subjects 
of  Jugurtha  were  likely  soon  to  fall,  formed  a  design 
against  his  master,  and  drew  Nabdalsa,  a  principal  officer 
in  the  Numidian  armies,  to  take  part  in  the  plot.  They 
were  discovered  in  time  to  prevent  the  execution  of  their 
design,  but  they  made  Jugurtha  from  thenceforward  con- 
eider  the  camp  of  his  own  army  as  a  place  of  danger  to 
himself,  rendered  him  distrustful,  timorous,  and  unquiet ; 
frequently  changing  his  company  and  his  quarters,  his 
guards  and  his  bed.  Weary  of  his  anxious  state,  he  -ven- 
tured once  more  to  face  Metellus  in  the  field,  and  being 
again  defeated,  fled  to  Bocchus  king  of  Mauritania,  whose 
daughter  he  had  married  ;  and  having  persuaded  this  prince 
to  consider  his  quarrel  with  the  Romans  as  the  common 
cause  of  all  monarchies,  who  were  likely  in  succession  to 
become  the  prey  of  this  arrogant  and  insatiable  power,  he 
prevailed  on  the  Mauritanian  to  assemble  his  army,  and  to 
attempt  the  relief  of  Numidia. 

Jugurtha,  in  conjunction  with  his  new  ally,  directed  his 
march  to  Cirta,  and  Metellus  perceiving  his  intention,  took 
post  to  cover  that  place.  But  while  he  was  endeavouring, 
by  threats  or  persuasions,  to  detach  the  king  of  Mauritania 
from  Jugurtha,  he  received  information  from  Rome  that  he 
was  superseded  in  the  command  of  the  army  ;  and  from 
thenceforward  protracted  the  war,  under  pretence  of  mes- 
sages and  negotiations,  and  possibly  inclined  to  leave  it 
with  all  its  difficulties  entire  to  his  successor. 

Marius,  having  served  under  Metellus,  had  with  great 
difficulty,  and  not  without  some  expressions  of  scorn  on 
the  part  of  his  general,  obtained  leave  to  depart  for  Homo, 
where  he  meant  to  stand  for  the  consulship.  He  accord- 
ingly appeared  in  the  capacity  of  candidate  for  this  honour, 
and  by  arraigning  the  dilatory  conduct  of  Metellus,  and  by 
promising  a  speedy  issue  to  the  Avar,  if  it  should  be  intrusted 
to  himself ;  he  so  far  won  upon  the  people,  that  he  was 
chosen  consul,  in  opposition  to  the  interest  of  the  nobloB, 
and  to  the  influence  of  all  the  leading  men  of  the  senate. 

*  U.  C.  615. 


C«.  IV.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  lb^ 

Upon  the  nomination  of  Marius,  the  party  who  had  op- 
posed his  preferment  did  not  attempt  to  withhold  the  rein- 
forcements which  he  asked  for  the  service  in  which  he  was 
to  command.*  This  crafty  and  daring  politician,  by  slight- 
ing the  laws  which  excluded  the  necessitous  citizens  from 
serving  in  the  legions,  found  in  this  class  of  the  people  a 
numerous  and  willing  supply.  They  crowded  to  his  stand- 
ard, and  filled  up  his  army  without  delay,  and  even  without 
offence  to  those  of  a  better  condition,  who  were  pleased 
with  relief  from  this  part  of  their  public  burdens. 

This  was  a  remarkable  and  dangerous  innovation  in  the 
Roman  state,  and  may  be  mentioned  among  the  steps  which 
hastened  the  ruin  of  the  commonwealth.  From  this  time 
forward  the  sword  began  to  pass  from  the  hands  of  those 
who  were  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  republic, 
into  the  hands  of  others  who  were  willing  to  make  it  a 
prey. 

The  new  consul  embarked  for  Africa  with  a  great  rein- 
forcement, and  in  a  few  days  arrived  at  Utica.  Upon  hia 
arrival,  the  operations  of  the  war  were  resumed,  and  car- 
ried into  the  wealtliiest  provinces  of  Numidia,  where  he 
encouraged  his  army  with  the  hopes  of  spoil.  Bocchus  and 
Jugurtha,  upon  the  approach  of  this  enemy,  thought  proper 
to  separate,  and  took  different  routs  into  places  of  safety  in 
the  more  difficult  and  inaccessible  parts  of  the  country. 

This  separation  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of  Jugurtha, 
who  alleged  that,  upon  their  appearing  to  despair,  and  to 
discontinue  all  offensive  operations,  the  Roman  general 
would  become  more  secure  and  more  open  to  surprise.  But 
Marius,  without  abating  his  vigilance,  pressed  where  the 
enemy  gave  way,  over-ran  the  country,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  towns  they  had  left.  To  rival  the  glory  which 
Mctclliu  had  gained  in  the  reduction  of  Thala,  he  ventured 
on  a  like  enterprise,  in  the  face  of  similar  difficulties,  by  at- 
tacking Thapsa,  a  place  surrounded  with  deserts,  and  in 
the  midst  of  a  land  destitute  of  water,  and  of  every  resource 
for  an  army.  Having  succeeded  in  this  design,  he  ventured, 
in  his  return,  to  attack  another  fortress,  in  which,  it  being 
Bupposed  impregnable,  the  royal  treasures  were  lodged. 
This  stronghold,  after  many  fruitless  assaults,  was  carried 
by  the  Romans,  and  the  event  added  much  to  the  discour- 
agement of  their  enemy. 

While  Marius  was  engaged  in  the  siege  of  this  place  ho 
was  joined  by  the  questor  Sylla,  who  had  been  left  in  Italy 
to  bring  up  the  cavalry,  which  wore  not  ready  to  embark 

*  U.  C.  62fi. 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  H 

at  the  departure  of  the  consul.  This  young  man  was  of  a 
patrician  and  noble  family,  but  which  had  not,  for  some 
generations,  borne  any  of  the  higher  offices  of  state.  He 
himself  partook  in  the  learning  which  then  spread  into 
Italy,  from  a  communication  with  the  Greeks,  and  had 
passed  the  early  part  of  his  life  in  town-dissipation  or  in 
literary  studies,  of  which  the  last  were  considered  at  this 
time  at  Rome  as  a  species  of  corruption  almost  equal  to  th< 
first.  He  was  yet  a  novice  in  Avar,  but  having  an  enterpris- 
ing genius,  soon  became  an  object  of  respect  to  the  soldiers, 
and  of  jealousy  to  his  general,  with  whom  he  now  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  quarrel  more  fatal  to  the  commonwealth 
than  that  which  had  subsisted  between  the  present  and 
preceding  commander  in  this  service. 

The  king  of  Numidia,  stung  by  the  sense  of  what  he  had 
already  lost,  and  expecting  no  advantage  from  any  further 
delays,  determined,  in  conjunction  with  Bocchus,  to  make 
a  vigorous  effort,  and  to  oblige  Marius,  who  was  then 
moving  to  his  winter  quarters,  yet  to  hazard  a  battle  for 
the  preservation  of  what  he  had  acquired  in  the  preceding 
campaign.  The  king  of  Mauritania  had  been  inclined  to 
remain  neutral,  or  to  enter  on  a  separate  treaty  with  the 
Romans  ;  but  being  promised  a  third  part  of  the  kingdom 
of  Numidia,  in  case  the  Romans  were  expelled  from  thence, 
and  the  war  should  be  brought  to  a  happy  conclusion,  he 
once  more  brought  forward  his  army,  and  joined  Jugurtha, 
who  suddenly  resolved  to  hazard  a  battle. 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  Jugurtha  waylaid  the 
Romans  in  their  march,  and  harassed  them  grievously  by 
an  incessant  running  fight.  With  his  usual  intrepidity  and 
conduct,  he  profited  by  every  circumstance  which  presented 
itself  in  his  favour ;  but  Marius  succeeded  in  maintaining 
the  form  of  his  march  ;  and,  before  night,  got  possession  ot 
some  heights  on  which  he  could  secure  his  army.  He  him- 
self, with  the  infantry,  chose  that  which  had  the  steepest 
ascent,  and  ordered  Sylla,  with  the  cavalry,  to  take  his 
post  on  a  smaller  eminence  below.  That  his  position 
might  not  be  known  to  the  enemy,  he  prohibited  the  light- 
ing of  fires,  and  the  usual  sounding  of  trumpets  at  the  dif- 
ferent watches  of  the  night.  The  Numidians  had  halted 
on  the  plain  where  night  overtook  them,  and  were  ob- 
served, at  the  break  of  day,  reposing  in  great  security,  and 
without  any  seeming  apprehension  of  danger  from  an  ene- 
my, who  was  supposed  to  be  flying,  and  who,  on  the  pre 
ceding  day,  had,  with  some  difficulty,  escaped  from  theii 
hands.  Marius  resolved  to  attack  them  in  this  situation, 
and  jfavo  orders,  which  were  communicated  through  th* 


Cn.IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  185 

army,  that,  at  a  general  sound  of  the  trumpets,  every  man 
should  stand  to  his  arms,  and  with  a  great  shout,  and  beat- 
ing on  his  shield,  make  an.  impetuous  attack  on  the  enemy. 
The  design,  accordingly,  succeeded.  The  Numidians,  who 
had  often  attected  to  fly,  were  driven  into  an  actual  rout. 
Great  numbers  fell  in  the  flight,  and  many  ensigns  and  tro- 
phies were  taken. 

After  this  victory,  Marius  directed  his  march  to  the  towns 
on  the  coast,  where  he  intended  to  fix  his  quarters  for  the 
winter.  Jugurtha,  well  apprized  of  his  route,  proposed 
again  to  surprise  him  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cirta.  la 
the  execution  of  this  design,  he,  with  the  greatest  ability, 
conducted  his  troops  to  the  place  of  action,  and  there  too 
made  every  effort  of  conduct  and  resolution.  But  the 
match  being  unequal,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  the  con- 
test ;  and,  with  his  sword  and  his  armour  all  bathed  in 
blood,  and  almost  alone,  is  said  to  have  left  the  field,  in 
which,  for  the  first  time,  he  had  taken  no  precautions  for 
re-assembling  his  army,  and  on  which  his  Numidians  wero 
accordingly  routed,  to  rally  no  more  ! 

Marius,  being  continued  in  his  command,  resumed  the 
operations  of  the  war,  and  was  about  to  attack  the  only 
place  which  yet  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
When  the  king  of  Mauritania,  alarmed  by  this  circum- 
stance, sued  for  peace,  he  was  informed,  that  he  must  give 
proofs  of  his  friendly  disposition  to  the  Romans,  before  they 
could  believe  his  professions,  or  listen  to  any  terms  of  peace. 
When  this  answer  was  reported  to  Bocchus,  he  was  not  at 
a  loss  to  understand  that  the  Romans  wished  him  to  deliver 
up  the  king  of  Numidia  into  their  hands ;  and  seems  to 
have  conceived  the  design  of  purchasing  peace,  even  on 
these  terms.  Sylla  being  already  personally  known  to  him, 
he  made  choice  of  this  officer,  as  the  person  with  whom  he 
would  treat ;  and  the  Roman  questor  was  accordingly  sent 
to  Ira  quarters. 

Jugurtha  sent  persons  of  confidence  immediately  to 
co-interact  the  negotiations  of  Sylla  at  the  court  of  Boc- 
chus ;  and  each  of  these  parties  solicited  the  king  of  Mauri- 
tania to  betray  the  other.  The  Numidians  endeavoured  to 
persuade  him,  that,  with  such  a  hostage  as  Sylla,  in  his 
jands,  he  might  still  expect  some  honourable  terms  from 
*he  Romans ;  and  Sylla,  on  the  other  part,  represented, 
that,  as  the  king  of  Mauritania  had  offended  the  Romans, 
by  abetting  the  crimes  of  Jugurtha,  he  must  now  expiate 
hi*  guilt  by  delivering  him  over  to  justice.  It  was  the  in- 
clination of  this  prince  to  favour  Jugurtha;  but  it  was  hit 
interest,  as  \voll  as  his  intention,  to  gain  the  Roman* 


ISO  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

While  he  was  still  in  suspense,  he  gave  equal  encourage- 
ment to  both  parties;  and,  without  being-  finally  deter- 
mined what  he  should  do,  appointed  the  Roman  questor 
and  the  king  of  Numidia  to  meet  him  without  any  escort, 
or  number  of  men  in  arms,  reserving  to  the  last  moment  the 
power  of  determining  against  the  one  or  the  other.  He  had 
placed  a  body  of  his  own  troops  in  ambush,  and,  soon  after 
the  parties  were  met,  gave  a  signal,  which  his  men  under- 
stood to  be  for  seizing  Jugurtha.  The  Numidians,  who 
attended  their  king,  were  slain;  he  himself  was  put  in 
chains,  and  delivered  up  to  the  Roman  questor. 

The  war  being  thus  at  an  end,  Marius  appointed  a  thanks- 
giving ;  and,  while  he  was  offering  the  customary  sacrifi- 
ces, the  news  arrived  from  Rome  that  the  people  had  dis- 
pensed with  the  law  in  his  favour,  and  again  had  made 
choice  of  him  for  consul  of  the  following  year.  This  choice 
was  determined  by  the  great  alarm  which  the  Romans  had 
taken  on  the  approach  of  the  barbarous  nations,  who,  like  a 
meteor,  had,  for  some  years,  traversed  the  regions  of  Eu- 
rope, and,  with  uncertain  direction,  were  said  to  destroy 
wherever  they  moved.  The  Romans  had  repeatedly  stood 
in  their  way,  and  had  provoked  a  resentment,  which  these 
barbarians  were  supposed,  in  haste,  to  wreak  upon  Italy. 
They  were  at  first  heard  of  under  the  name  only  of  Cim- 
bri;  but  were  now  known  to  consist  of  many  nations, 
under  the  appellations  of  Ambrones,  Teutones,  Tectosagi, 
aud  others;  and  had  gained  accessions  of  force  by  the 
junction  of  the  Tigurini,  and  other  Gaulish  nations. 

At  the  time  that  Marius  had  finished  the  war  with  Jugur- 
tha, Quintus  Servius  Caepio,  having  the  former  year  com- 
manded in  Gaul,  where  he  destroyed  or  pillaged  the  city  of 
Tolosa,  and  made  a  great  booty,  was  now,  in  his  turn,  to 
meet  with  this  enemy ;  the  consul  Mallius  or  Manilius  had 
orders  to  join  him ;  and  all  the  troops  they  could  assemble 
were  thought  necessary  to  withstand  the  barbarians.* 
These  generals  united  their  forces  on  the  Rhone,  but  with- 
out a  proper  disposition  to  act  in  concert ;  they  were  ac- 
cordingly defeated  in  battle;  eighty  thousand  Romans, 
amongst  whom  were  the  two  sons  of  the  consul  Manilius, 
were  killed  in  the  action ;  forty  thousand  attendants  of  the 
army  were  massacred  in  cold  blood,  and  both  camps  taken. 

The  accounts  of  the  character  of  an  enemy,  and  of  the 
fate  of  Roman  armies  which  ventured  to  encounter  them, 
were  received  at  Rome  with  amazement  and  terror.  The 
citizens  changed  their  dress  and  assumed  the  military  hatwt. 

*  U.  C.  648. 


CM.  IV.J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  187 

Rutilius,  the  consul,  who  had  remained  in  the  administra- 
tion of  affairs  in  Italy,  had  instructions  from  the  senate  to 
array  every  person  that  was  fit  to  bear  arms.  No  one  who 
had  attained  the  military  age  was  exempted.  There  was 
little  time  to  train  such  levies;  and  the  usual  way  was 
thought  insufficient.  The  fencing  masters,  employed  to 
train  gladiators  for  the  public  shows,  were  brought  forth, 
and  distributed  to  instruct  the  citizens  in  the  use  of  their 
weapons.  But  the  expedient,  on  which  the  people  chiefly 
relied  for  deliverance  from  the  dangers  which  threatened 
them,  was  the  nomination  of  Marius  to  command  against 
tin's  terrible  enemy. 

This  officer,  upon  hearing  of  his  re-election,  set  out  for 
Italy,  and,  with  his  legions  and  their  captives,  entered 
Home  in  triumph ;  a  spectacle,  of  which  Jugurtha,  in  chains, 
with  his  unfortunate  children,  were  the  principal  figures 
When  the  procession  was  over,  the  captive  king  was  led  to 
a  dungeon,  under  orders  for  his  immediate  execution.  As 
he  was  about  to  be  stripped  of  his  ornaments  and  robes,  the 
executioner,  in  haste  to  pluck  the  pendants  from  his  ears, 
tore  away  the  flesh,  and  thrust  him  naked  into  a  dungeon 
6elo\v  ground.  He  descended  into  this  place  with  a  smile, 
saying,  "  What  a  cold  bath  is  here  ?"  He  pined  about  six 
days,  and  expired. 

Marius,  in  this  triumph,  is  said  to  have  brought  into-  the 
treasury  three  thousand  and  seven  pounds,  or  thirty  thou- 
sand and  seventy  ounces  of  gold,  and  fifty-seven  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  ounces  of  silver ;  and  in  money, 
two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thousand  denarii.*  The 
kingdom  of  Numidia  was  dismembered ;  part  was  put  into 
the  possession  of  Bocchus  as  a  reward  for  his  late  services  ; 
and  part  reserved  for  the  surviving  heirs  of  Massinissa. 

As  the  law  respecting  the  consulate  now  stood,  no  one 
could  be  elected  in  absence,  nor  re-elected  into  this  office, 
till  after  an  interval  of  ten  years.  Both  of  the  clauses, 
however,  were  dispensed  with  in  favour  of  Marius. f  Be- 
ing considered  as  head  of  the  popular  party,  his  eleva- 
tion was  an  object  of  zeal  to  the  tribunes,  and  was  intended 
to  mortify  those  who  affected  the  distinctions  of  ancient 
family.  Contrary  to  the  usual  form,  ami  without  casting 
lots,  he  was  preferred  to  his  colleague  in  the  appointment 
to  command  in  Gaul.  Having  his  choice  ot'  all  the  armies 
at  that  time  in  Italy,  he  took  the  new  levies,  lately  assem- 
bled and  disciplined  by  Rutilius,  in  preference  to  the  veter- 
ans, who  had  served  in  Africa  under  Metellus  and  himsalf. 

»  About  JO.OOW.  »  U.  C.  G4S. 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

It  is  probable  that  he  was  determined  in  this  choice,  more 
by  his  desire  to  gratify  the  veterans  who  wished  to  be  dis- 
charged, than  by  the  consideration  of  any  supposed  superi- 
ority in  the  discipline  to  which  the  new  levies  had  been 
trained. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Marius  in  his  province  it  appeared, 
that  the  alarm  taken  for  the  safety  of  Italy  was  somewhat 
premature.  The  barbarians  in  their  battles  only  meant  to 
maintain  the  reputation  of  their  valour,  or  to  keep  open 
the  tract  of  their  migrations.  They  had  found  the  lands, 
from  about  the  higher  parts  of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine, 
through  Gaul  and  across  the  Pyrenees  into  Spain,  and  to 
the  ocean,  convenient  for  their  purpose,  and  sufficiently 
extensive.  They  had  yet  meditated  no  war  with  the 
Romans,  or  any  other  nation  ;  but  did  not  decline  the  en- 
counter where  they  met  with  resistance.  At  present  they 
continued  their  migrations  to  the  westward,  without  any 
intention  to  cross  the  Alps,  or  to  visit  the  nations  who 
inhabited  within  those  mountains. 

Under  the  apprehension,  however,  of  their  return  to- 
wards Gaul  and  Italy,  Marius  continued  to  be  elected  con- 
sul, and  was  repeatedly  named  to  the  command  of  the  array 
that  was  destined  to  oppose  them.  His  party  at  Rome  had, 
at  this  time,  besides  the  exigency  which  justified  their 
choice,  many  other  advantages  against  their  antagonists, 
and  maintained  the  envious  quarrel  of  the  lower  people 
against  the  nobility  with  great  animosity  and  zeal. 


CHAP.  V. 

Revieic  of  the  Circumstances  which  revived  Vie  popular  Party— Farther 
Account  of  Lawt  and  Regulations  under  their  Administration— State 
of  the  Empire— Fourth  Consulate  of  Marius — Continued  Migrations 
of  the  Barbarous  Nations — Defeated  by  Marius  at  Aqua  Sextite—By 
Marius  and  Catulus  in  Italy. 

THE  senate  had,  for  some  time  after  the  suppression  of  the 
troubles  which  were  raised  by  Fulvius  and  the  younger 
Gracchus,  retained  its  authority,  and  restrained  the  tri. 
bunes  of  the  people  within  ordinary  bounds ;  but  by  the 
suspicions  which  arose  against  them,  on  the  subject  of  their 
transactions  with  Jugurtha,  and  by  the  miscarriages  of  the 
war  in  Numidia,  they  again  lost  their  advantage.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  ascertain  the  real  grounds  of  these  suspicions. 
Sallust  seems  to  admit  them  in  their  utmost  extent,  and 
represents  the  whole  order  of  nobility  as  mercenary  traders, 


CM.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  IS9 

disposed  to  sell  what  the  republic  intrusted  to  their  honour. 
That  the  presents  of  Jugurtha  were  sometimes  accept™!, 
and  produced  some  effect,  is  not  to  be  doubted ;  but  that 
the  aristocracy  of  Rome,  during  its  short  reign,  was  so 
much  corrupted,  is  scarcely  to  be  credited.  Such  a  measure 
of  corruption  must  have  rendered  the  state  a  prey  to  every 
foreign  power  that  was  in  a  condition  to  mislead  its  coun  • 
nls,  and  is  not  consistent  with  that  superiority  which  the 
Romans  then  generally  possessed  in  their  negotiations,  as 
well  as  in  their  wars.  The  charge  itself  savours  too  much 
of  that  envy  with  which  the  lower  class  of  the  people  at  all 
times  interpret  the  conduct  of  their  superiors,  and  which 
was  greatly  countenanced  by  the  partisans  of  Caesar,  at  the 
time  when  Sallust  wrote,  in  order  to  vilify  and  reduce  the 
senate.  We  cannot,  however,  oppose  mere  conjecture  to 
the  positive  testimony  of  Sallust,  corroborated  by  some- 
.suspicious  circumstances  in  the  transactions  of  the  times. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  real  occasion  of  the  cry 
then  subsisting  against  the  nobles,  we  have  seen  that  the 
popular  party,  availing  themselves  of  it,  and  giving  it  all 
manner  of  countenance,  found  means  to  recover  great  part 
of  their  lost  power.  The  tribunes,  having  obtained  the 
establishment  of  a  special  commission  for  the  trial  of  all 
those  who  had  received  bribes  from  Jugurtha,  made  the 
people  consider  their  own  act  in  constituting  a  court  of 
inquiry,  as  sufficient  to  evince  the  reality  of  the  crime.  The 
prosecutions  which  continued  to  be  carried  on  for  two 
years,  upon  this  supposition,  served  more  than  the  subject 
of  any  former  dispute  to  alienate  the  minds  of  men  from 
each  other,  and  from  the  public.  Questions  were  more  of 
A  private  than  of  a  public  nature,  and  occupied  the  worst  of 
the  human  passions,  envy,  malice,  and  revenge. 

The  people,  in  their  zeal  to  attack  the  nobility  under  any 
pretence,  made  no  distinction  between  errors  and  crimes ; 
and,  contrary  to  the  noble  spirit  of  their  ancestors,  treated 
misfortune,  incapacity,  or  treachery,  with  equal  rigour. 
One  tribune  had  extended  the  use  of  the  secret  ballot  fro 
the  trial  of  lesser  crimes  ;  another,  upon  this  occasion,  took 
away  all  distinctions,  and  introduced  it  in  the  trial  of  ca;>i- 
tal  crimes  also :  so  that  the  judge,  without  being  account- 
able, indulged  his  secret  malice  or  partial  favour. 

It  was  proposed  by  the  consul  Servilius  Coepio,  that  tho 
senate,  whose  members  were  personally  so  nnich  exposed 
to  prosecutions,  should  have  their  share  likf\.  i  »•  in  compos- 
ing the  juries,  a  privilege  of  which,  by  the  edict  of  Grac- 
chus, they  had  been  deprived.*     In  whatever  degree  this 
*  U.  C  G47. 
11 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

proposal  was  adopted,  it  Avas  again  expressly  repealed  upon 
the  motion  of  Sorvilius  Glaucia.  And  Ccepio  soon  after 
experienced,  in  hLs  own  person,  the  animosity  of  the  popu- 
lar faction,  being  tried  for  miscarriage  in  his  battle  with  the 
Cimbri.  He  was  condemned  by  the  judges,  and  afterwards, 
declared,  in  consequence  of  that  sentence,  disqualified  to 
hold  a  place  in  the  senate. 

Among  the  crimes  which  the  populace  were  now  so 
eager  to  punish,  fortunately  that  of  peculation  or  extortion 
in  the  provinces  was  one.  To  facilitate  complaints  on  this 
subject,  not  only  persons  having  an  immediate  interest  in 
the  case,  but  all  to  whom  any  money  or  effects,  injuriously 
taken,  might  have  otherwise  come  by  inheritance,  were 
entitled  to  prosecute  for  this  offence  ;  and  any  alien,  who 
convicted  a  Roman  citizen  of  this  crime,  so  as  to  have  him 
struck  off  the  rolls  of  the  people,  was  himself  to  be  enrolled 
instead  of  the  citi/en  displaced. 

Domitius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  attacked  the  aristocrat? eal 
constitution  even  of  the  priesthood,  and  endeavoured  to 
transfer  the  right  of  election  from  the  order  itself  to  the 
people ;  but  superstition,  which  continues  to  influence  the 
bulk  of  mankind  after  reason  has  failed,  here  stood  in  his 
way.  The  people,  it  was  confessed,  could  not  interfere  in 
such  matters  without  profanation ;  but  a  certain  part  of 
the  people  might  judge  of  the  candidates,  and  instruct  th<? 
college  of  priests  whom  they  were  to  choose. 

During  this  period,  a  just  alarm  was  taken  on  the  sub- 
ject of  private  as  well  as  public  corruption.  The  aids 
which  were  given  to  the  people  to  enable  them  to  subsist  in 
profusion  and  idleness;  the  wealth  that  was  passing  to 
Rome  in  the  hands  of  traders,  contractors  and  farmers  of 
the  revenue,  as  well  as  provincial  officers,  by  whom  the 
profits  of  a  first  appointment  were  lavished  in  public  shows, 
fights  of  gladiators,  and  baiting  of  wild  beasts,  to  gain  the 
people  in  their  canvass  for  farther  preferments;  these  sev- 
eral circumstances  tended,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  corrupt 
the  people,  and  to  render  them  unworthy  of  that  sove- 
reignty which  they  actually  possessed  in  the  prevalence  of 
the  popular  faction. 

The  term  luxury  is  somewhat  ambiguous ;  it  is  put  for 
sensuality  or  excess  in  what  relates  to  the  preservation  of 
animal  life ;  and  for  the  effect  of  vanity,  in  what  relates  to 
the  decorations  of  rank  and  fortune.  The  luxury  of  the 
Romans,  in  the  present  age,  was  probably  of  the  former 
kind,  and  sumptuary  laws  were  provided,  not  to  restrain 
vanity,  but  to  govern  the  appetites  for  mere  debauch. 
About  the  time  that  Jugurtha  was  at  Rome,  the  sumptuary 


OH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  191 

la\v  of  Fannius  received  an  addition,  by  which  the  Roman 
citizens  were  not  only  restricted  in  their  ordinary  expense, 
but  the  legal  quantities  and  species  of  food  were  prescribed 
to  them.  The  whole  expense  of  the  table  was  restricted 
to  thirty  asses  a  day,  and  the  meat  to  be  served  up,  to  three 
or  four  pounds,  dried  or  salted.  There  was  no  restriction 
in  the  use  of  herbs  or  vegetables  of  any  eort.  According 
to  A.  Gellius,  the  law  permitted,  on  certain  days,  an  ex- 
pense of  a  hundred  asses  ;  on  wedding  days,  two  hundred, 
i'he  epicures  of  this  time  were  obliged  to  make  up,  in  the 
cookery  of  their  vegetable  diet,  what  was  defective  in  that 
species  of  food. 

About  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  Numidian 
war,  the  people,  according  to  the  census,  amounted  to  four 
hundred  and  three  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-six 
citizens,  fit  to  carry  arms. 

While  the  Romans  were  intent  on  the  war  which  sub- 
sisted in  Africa,  they  were  assailed  by  enemies  in  some  of 
the  other  provinces  In  Spain,  hostilities,  at  intervals, 
were  still  renewed.  In  endeavouring  to  quell  one  of  the 
revolts  of  the  natives,  the  forces  employed  against  them 
were  cut  off;  and  a  fresh  army  was  transported  from  Italy 
to  secure  the  Roman  possessions. 

Hostilities  were  likewise  continued  on  the  frontier  of 
Macedonia,  by  the  Scordisci,  Triballi,  and  other  Thracian 
nations ;  and  the  proconsul  Rufus,  by  his  victories  in  this 
quarter,  obtained  a  triumph. 

During  this  period,  in  the  consulship  of  Attilius  Serranus, 
and  Q.  Servilius  Caepio,  the  year  after  the  first  consulship 
of  Marius,  were  born  two  illustrious  citizens,  M.  Tulliua 
Cicero,  and  Cneius  Pompeius  Strabo,  afterwards  distin- 
guished by  the  appellation  of  Pompey  the  Great. — And  we 
are  now  to  open  the  scene  in  which  the  persons  on  w  horn 
the  fate  of  the  Roman  empire  was  to  depend,  made  their 
several  entries  into  life,  or  into  public  business,  and  began 
to  pass  through  an  infancy  or  a  youth  of  danger,  to  an  old 
age  of  extreme  trouble,  which  closed  with  the  subversion 
of  that  constitution  to  which  they  were  born. 

Marius  was  re-elected  into  olhce,  and  destined  for  his  for- 
mer station  in  Gaul.*  This  year  likewise  the  barbarians 
turned  aside  from  his  province,  and  left  the  republic  at 
leisure  to  contend  with  enemies  of  less  consideration,  who 
appeared  in  a  different  quarter.  Athcnio,  a  slave  in  Sicily, 
roused  the  slaves  of  that  island  to  rebellion,  acquired 
strength  sufficient  to  cope  with  Scrvilius  Casca,  the  Roman 

*  U.  C.  WO. 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1L 

pretor,  and  actually  forced  him  in  his  camp.  He  likewis* 
defeated  the  succeeding  pretor,  Licinius  Luculus ;  and  wasi 
in  the  third  year  of  the  insurrection,  with  great  difficulty 
reduced  by  the  consul  Aquilius. 

About  the  same  time  the  Romans  had  been  obliged  t<J 
equip  a  naval  armament  under  Marcus  Antonius,  known 
by  the  appellation  of  the  orator,  against  the  Cilician  pi- 
rates, who  had  lately  infested  the  seas. 

From  Macedonia,  Calpurnius  Piso  reported,  that  tho 
victory  he  had  gained  over  the  Thracians  had  enabled  him 
to  penetrate  to  the  mountains  of  Rhodope  and  Caucasus. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  empire  when  Caius  Marius 
returned  from  his  province  in  Gaul,  to  preside  at  the  elec- 
tion of  consuls.  He  was  again,  by  the  voice  of  the  people, 
called  upon  to  resume  his  former  trust;  but  he  affected, 
from  modesty,  to  decline  the  honour.  His  partizans 
charged  him  with  treachery  to  his  country  in  proposing  to 
desert  the  republic  in  times  of  so  much  danger ;  and  with 
reproaches  prevailed  so  far  as  to  render  him  passive  to  the 
will  of  his  fellow  citizens,  who  wished  to  replace  him  again 
in  his  former  station. 

In  this  fourth  consulate,  the  courage  and  military  skill  of 
Marius  came  to  be  actually  exerted  in  this  province.*  Tho 
barbarous  nations,  after  their  return  from  Spain,  began  to 
appear  in  separate  bodies,  each  forming  a  numerous  and 
formidable  army.  In  one  division  the  Cimbri  and  Tectos- 
ages  had  passed  through  the  whole  length  of  Gaul  to  tho 
Rhine,  and  from  thence  proceeded  by  the  Danube  to  Nori- 
cum  or  Austria,  and  were  pointing  towards  Italy  by  the 
valley  of  Trent.  The  consul  Lutatius  Catulus  was  sta- 
tioned near  the  descent  of  the  Alps  to  observe  the  motions 
of  this  body. 

In  another  division,  the  Ambrones  and  the  Teutones 
hung  on  the  frontier  of  the  Roman  province  in  Gaul,  be- 
tween the  Garonne  and  the  Rhone,  and  gave  out,  that  they 
meant,  by  the  most  ordinary  route  of  the  mountains,  to 
join  their  allies  in  Italy. 

Upon  the  approach  of  this  formidable  enemy,  Marius 
took  post  on  the  Rhone  at  the  confluence  of  that  river  with 
the  Isere,  and  fortified  his  camp  in  the  most  effectual  man- 
ner. The  barbarians,  reproaching  him  with  cowardice  for 
having  taken  these  precautions,  ventured  to  leave  him 
behind,  and  proceeded  in  separate  divisions  towards  Italy. 
Marius  followed ;  and,  Avith  rapid  marches,  overtook  them 
as  they  passed  over  the  country  without  any  precaution; 

*  U.  C.  631. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  193 

•ome  of  them  near  to  the  Roman  colony  of  Sextius,  and  far 
removed  from  each  other.  Having-  found  them  under  such 
disadvantage,  and  in  such  confusion  as  exposed  them  to 
slaughter,  with  scarcely  any  power  of  resistance,  he  put  the 
greater  part  to  the  sword.  Ninety  thousand  prisoners, 
with  Teutobochus,  one  of  their  kings,  were  taken,  and  two 
hundred  thousand  were  said  to  be  slain  in  the  field. 

The  news  of  this  victory  arriving  at  Rome,  wliile  it  was 
known  that  another  division  of  the  same  enemy,  not  less 
formidable  was  still  in  the  field,  it  was  not  to  be  doubted 
that  the  command  and  office  of  consul  would  be  continued 
to  Marius. 

The  popular  faction  chose  him  for  a  fifth  time  consul,  in 
conjunction  with  M.  Aquilius.*  Catulus,  the  late  colleague 
of  Marius,  commanding  the  troops  that  were  stationed  on 
the  Athesis,  to  cover  the  access  to  Italy  from  the  valley  of 
Trent,  was  destined  to  act  in  subordination  to  the  consul, 
who  had  given  orders  to  hasten  the  march  of  his  victorious 
army  from  the  Rhone. 

Catulus  had  taken  post  above  Verona,  thrown  a  bridge 
over  the  Athesis,  and,  in  order  to  command  the  passage  of 
that  river,  had  fortified  stations  on  both  its  banks.  While 
he  was  in  this  posture,  and  before  the  junction  of  Marius, 
the  enemy  arrived  in  his  neighbourhood.  The  amazing- 
works  which  they  performed  fully  served  to  confirm  the 
report  of  their  numbers.  They  obstructed  with  mounds  of 
timber  and  earth  the  channel  of  the  river,  so  as  to  force  it 
to  change  its  course ;  and  thus,  instead  of  passing  the  river, 
they  threw  it  behind  them  in  their  march.  They  continued 
to  float  such  quantities  of  wood  on  the  stream  above  the 
bridge  which  Catulus  had  built,  that  the  passage  of  the 
water  being  stopped,  the  bridge,  with  all  the  timber  which 
\v:is  accumulated  before  it,  was  entirely  carried  oft'.  The 
Roman  army,  on  seeing  such  evidence  of  the  numbers  and 
strength  of  their  enemy,  were  seized  with  a  panic.  Many 
deserted  their  colours,  some  fled  even  to  Rome  without 
halting.  The  proconsul  thought  proper  to  order  a  retreat ; 
and  thus,  by  seeming  to  authorize  what  he  could  not  pre- 
vent, he  endeavoured  to  save  in  part  the  credit  of  his  army. 

Marius,  who  continued  at  Rome  while  the  legions  ad- 
vanced on  their  march  from  Gaul,  went  to  receive  his  army 
at  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  and  to  hasten  its  junction  with 
Catulus.  Upon  the  junction  of  the  two  armies,  those  who 
had  lately  fled  recovered  their  courage,  and  the  generals 
determined,  without  loss  of  time,  to  hazard  a  battle.  Ca- 

*  U.  C,  <ra 


194  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  11. 

tulus  received  them  in  front.  Harms  made  a  movement  to 
assail  them  in  flank  ;  but  as  they  were  hid  by  the  clouds  of 
dust  which  everywhere  rose  from  the  plain,  he  missed  hii 
way,  or  could  not  engage  till  after  the  enemy  had  been  re- 
pulsed by  Catulus,  and  were  already  put  to  flight.  The 
rout  was  extremely  bloody  ;  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
were  said  to  be  slain  ;  sixty  thousand  submitted  to  be  takes 
prisoners.  The  remainder  of  this  mighty  host,  even  the 
women  and  children,  perished  by  their  own  hands;  and 
the  race  of  barbarous  nations  who  had  migrated  through 
Europe,  perhaps  for  ages  before  they  encountered  with  th« 
Romans,  now  appear  to  have  been  entirely  extirpated. 

On  receiving  the  news  of  this  victor/  at  Home,  the  city 
resounded  with  joy,  and  the  peopi^,  Ja  every  sacrifice 
they  offered  up,  addressed  themseVveg  to  Marius  as  a  god. 
In  the  victory  Harius  was  no  more  than  partner  with  Ca- 
tulus ;  and  upon  the  arrival  of  the  armies  at  Rome,  he  did 
justice  to  Catulus  j*  this  particular,  and  admitted  him  to 
partake  in  his  triir^p^ 


CHAP.  VI. 

«'  usf  ^crenel  mr  'derate  Ambition  of  Marius— Death  of  Nonius—Re- 
•>tctivn  of\*T  tune  Saturninus — Bit  Sedition  and  seising  the  Capitol 
— Death  of  if  £  conspirators  —  Reverse  in  the  State  of  Partiet — Recall 
of  MeteUus—  Birth  of  Caius  Julius  Casar—Lex  Ceecilia  Didia—Sylla 
offers  himself  Candidate  for  the  office  of  Pretor  —  Renewal  of  the  war  in 
•Spain  and  of  that  in  Thrace— Edict  of  the  Censors  against  the  Latin 
Rhetoridani—Acts  of  Licius  Drusus— Revolt  of  the  Italian  Ah'les — 
Policy  of  the  Romans  in  yielding  to  the  Necessity  of  their  AJJairs. 

MARIUS,  being  now  returned  to  the  city,  might  have 
quitted  the  paths  of  ambition  with  uncommon  distinction 
and  honour.  An  ordinary  consulate,  after  his  having  been 
BO  often  called  upon  in  times  of  danger,  as  the  person  most 
likely  to  save  his  country,  could  make  no  addition  to  his 
glory.  His  being  set  aside  in  times  of  security  and  leisure, 
would  even  have  been  the  most  honourable  and  flattering 
comment  that  could  have  been  made  on  his  former  elections. 
But  immoderate  thirst  of  power,  and  extreme  animosity 
to  his  rivals,  not  elevation  of  mind,  were  the  characteristici 
of  Marius.  His  ambition  had  hitherto  passed  for  an  aversioc 
to  aristocratical  usurpations.  But  his  contempt  of  family 
distinctions,  the  offspring  of  a  vanity  which  made  Mm  feel 


CH.  VI.]  nutfiAW  KEl'UBLU'.  1U5 

the  want  ol  such  honours,  by  clashing  with  the  established 
subordinatiji.  of  ranks  in  his  country,  l.:>came  a  source  of 
disaffection  to  the  state  itself.  He  formed  views  upon  the 
consulate  yet  a  sixth  time ;  and  instead  of  the  moderation 
or  the  satiety  of  honours  with  which  he  pretended  to  be  ac- 
tuated  when  he  hoped  to  be  pressed  into  olhcc,  he  employed 
all  his  influence,  even  his  money,  to  procure  a  re-election ; 
and  accordingly  prevailed,  together  with  Valerius  Flareus. 
He  had  warmly  espoused  the  interest  of  this  candidate 
against  MeteUus,  more  from  animosity  to  the  competitor 
than  from  any  regard  or  predilection  for  Flaccus.*  Being 
chosen,  in  order  the  more  to  strengthen  himself  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  power,  he  entered  into  concert  with  the  tribune 
Apuleius  Satuminus,  and,  it  is  probable,  agreed  to  support 
this  factious  demagogue  in  his  pretensions  to  remain  in 
office  for  another  year. 

The  faction  that  was  formed  by  M;vius  and  the  tribune 
Saturninus,  with  their  adherents,  was  farther  strengthened 
by  the  accession  of  the  pretor  Glaucia. 

Upon  the  approach  of  the  tribunitian  elections,  the  senate 
and  nobles  exerted  themselves  to  prevent  the  re-election 
of  Saturninus ;  and  nine  of  the  new  candidates  were,  without 
any  question,  declared  to  be  duly  elected  in  preference  to 
him.  The  tenth  place  too  was  actually  filled  by  the  elec- 
tion of  Nonius  Sufenas,  whom  the  aristocracy  had  supported 
with  all  its  influence.  But  the  party  of  Apuleius,  enraged 
at  their  disappointment,  had  recourse  to  violence,  and 
Nonius  was  slain,  though  already  vested  with  the  sacred 
character  of  tribune. 

Marius  had  reason  to  apprehend  some  violent  resolution 
from  the  senate,  and  was  in  no  haste  to  assemble  that  body. 
Meantime  Glaucia,  in  the  night,  with  a  party  armed  with 
daggers,  took  possession  of  the  capitol  and  place  of  assembly, 
and,  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  having  g«ne  through 
the  forms  of  election,  announced  Apuleius  again  tribune, 
in  the  place  that  was  vacated  by  the  murder  of  Nonius. 

Apuleius  was  no  sooner  reinstated  in  the  sacred  character, 
than  he  hastened  to  gratify  his  party  by  proposing  popular 
Jaws.  The  most  memorable  of  these  laws  \v;is  to  the  eil'eet, 
that  the  price,  hitherto  paid  for  corn  by  the  people  at  the 
public  granaries,  should  be  remitted,  and  that  corn  shouM 
be  distributed  gratis.  Upon  the  intention  to  obtain  it 
being  known,  Q.  Servilius  C;«pio,  one  of  the  questors,  repre- 
sented, that  if  such  a  law  should  pass,  there  would  be  an  end 
of  industry,  good  order,  and  government ;  and  that  tho 

*  U.  C.  £3. 


196  HISTOIl*   OF  THE  J.S.  II. 

treasury  of  Rome  would  not  be  sufficient  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense. He  exhorted  the  senate  to  employ  every  measure 
to  defeat  the  motion.  And  this  body  accordingly  made  a 
resolution,  that  whoever  attempted  to  obtain  the  law  rs. 
question  should  be  deemed  an  enemy  to  his  country. 

Apuleius,  to  extend  the  power  of  the  popular  assemblies, 
and  to  remove  every  impediment  from  his  own  designs, 
brought  forward  a  number  of  new  regulations.  While  his 
motion  for  these  was  in  debate,  some  one  of  the  party  who 
opposed  them,  in  order  to  stop  the  career  of  this  factious 
tribune,  observed,  that  it  thundered ;  a  circumstance  which, 
upon  the  ordinary  maxims  of  the  Roman  augurs,  was  suffi- 
cient to  suspend  any  business  in  which  the  people  were 
engaged,  and  to  break  up  their  assembly.  "  If  you  be  not 
silent,"  said  Apuleius  to  the  person  who  observed  that  it 
thundered,  "  you  will  also  find  that  it  hails."  The  assembly 
accordingly,  without  being  deterred  by  this  interposition 
of  the  auspices,  passed  acts  by  which  the  power  of  the  senate 
was  entirely  suppressed,  their  part  of  the  legislature  was 
reduced  to  a  mere  form,  and  even  this  they  were  not  at 
liberty  to  withhold.  Marius  called  them  together,  and  pro- 
posed that  they  should  consider  what  resolution  they  were 
to  take  with  respect  to  a  change  of  so  much  importance,  and 
particularly  with  respect  to  an  oath  which  was  to  be  exacted 
from  the  members  to  bind  themselves  to  abide  by  the  regu- 
lations. 

While  the  senators  concurred  with  Marius  in  refusing  the 
oath,  the  time  appointed  for  administering  it  nearly  ap- 
proached ;  and  this  consul  after  the  third  day  was  far  spent, 
assembled  the  senate,  set  forth  die  dangerous  state  of  the 
commonwealth  ;  at  the  same  time  expressed  his  own  fears 
of  the  disturbances  that  might  arise  if  the  senate  refused  to 
gratify  the  people  in  this  matter;  and  while  multitudes 
were  assembled  in  the  streets  to  know  the  issue  of  their 
councils,  he  required  that  the  oath  should  be  administered. 
He  himself  took  it  to  the  astonishment  of  the  senate,  and 
the  joy  of  the  populace  assembled  by  Apuleius,  who  sounded 
applause  through  every  part  of  the  streets.  The  senate 
immediately  complied,  and  took  the  oath,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Metellus,  who  was  banished  for  his  contumacy. 

In  these  transactions  elapsed  the  second  year,  in  which 
Apuleius  filled  the  office  of  tribune ;  and,  being  favoured  by 
a  supineness  of  the  opposite  party,  contracted  in  a  seeming 
despa\r  of  the  republic,  he  prevailed  yet  a  third  time  in  being 
vested  with  this  formidable  power.  To  court  the  favour  of 
the  people,  he  affected  to  credit  what  was  alleged  concern- 
ing: the  birth  of  Equitius ;  and,  under  the  name  of  Caius 


CH.  VI.]  HUMAN  REPUBLIC.  197 

Gracchus,  son  of  Tiberius,  had  this  impostor  associated  with 
himself  in  the  office  of  tribune. 

At  the  election  Avhich  followed,  the  interest  of  the  nobles 
was  exerted  for  Marcus  Antonius  and  C.  Memmius.  The 
first  was  declared  consul,  and  the  second  was  likely  to  pre- 
vail over  Glaucia  the  popular  candidate ;  when,  in  the  midst 
of  the  crowds  assembled  to  vote,  a  tumult  arose ;  Memmim 
was  beset  and  murdered,  and  the  people,  alarmed  at  sc 
strange  an  outrage,  were  seized  with  a  panic,  and  fled. 

In  the  night,  Glaucia,  Saturninus,  and  the  questoi 
Saufeius,  being  known  to  be  met  in  secret  conference,  alJ 
the  citizens  who  yet  retained  any  regard  for  the  common- 
wealth, proposed,  without  delay,  to  seize  their  persons,  eithei 
living  or  dead;  but  being  put  on  their  guard,  they  seized 
the  capitol,  there  to  secure  themselves,  and  to  overawe  the 
assembly  of  the  people."  It  was  no  longer  to  be  doubted 
that  the  republic  was  in  a  state  of  war.— Marius,  who  had 
fomented  these  troubles  from  aversion  to  the  nobles,  now 
remained  undetermined  what  part  he  should  act.  But  the 
senate  being  assembled,  gave  the  usual  charge  to  himself 
and  his  colleague  to  avert  the  danger  with  which  the  repub- 
lic was  threatened  ;  and  both  these  officers,  however  much 
they  were  disposed  to  favour  the  sedition,  being  in  this 
manner  armed  with  the  sword  of  the  commonwealth,  were 
obliged  to  employ  it  in  support  of  the  public  peace.  The 
capital  was  invested  in  form,  and  appears  to  have  held  out 
some  days ;  at  the  end  of  which,  in  order  to  oblige  the 
rebels  to  surrender,  the  pipes  that  supplied  them  with 
water  were  cut  off.  This  had  the  intended  effect.  They 
submitted  to  such  terms  as  were  proposed  to  them ;  and 
Marius,  still  inclined  to  treat  them  with  favour,  had  them 
confined  to  the  hall  of  the  senate  till  farther  orders.  In  the 
mean  time  a  great  party  of  citizens,  who  were  in  arms  for 
the  defence  of  the  republic,  impatient  of  delay,  and  thinking 
it  dangerous  to  spare  such  daring  offenders,  beset  them 
instantly  in  their  place  of  confinement,  and  put  the  whole 
to  the  sword. 

This  was  the  fourth  tribunitian  sedition  raised  to  a  dan- 
gerous height,  and  quelled  by  the  vigour  and  resolution  of 
the  nobles.  Upon  the  suppression  of  this  dangerous  sedi- 
tion, the  commonwealth  was  restored  to  a  state  which, 
compared  to  the  late  mixture  of  civil  contention  and  mili- 
tary execution,  may  have  deserved  the  name  of  public 
order.*  One  office  of  consul  was  still  vacant;  and  tht 
election  proceeding  without  disturbance,  Postunrina  AM» 

*   U.  C.CM, 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

nus  was  joined  to  Antonius.  Most  of  the  other  elections 
had  also  been  favourable  to  the  nobles  ;  and  the  majority 
even  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people  were  inclined  to  respect 
the  senate  and  the  aristocracy,  as  principal  supports  of  the 
government. 

The  first  effect  of  this  happy  recovery  was  a  motion  to 
recall  Metellus  from  banishment.  In  this  motion  two  of 
the  tribunes,  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus  and  L.  Porcius  Cato  con- 
curred. But  Marias  having  opposed  it  with  all  his  influ- 
ence, and  Publius  Furius,  another  of  the  tribunes,  having 
interposed  his  negative,  it  could  not  at  that  time  be  carried 
into  execution.  Soon  after,  however,  the  same  motion 
being  renewed,  the  people  Avere  moved  with  tenderness 
at  the  intercession  of  the  son  of  the  exile,  and  proceeded, 
without  regard  to  the  negative  which  Furius  again  inter- 
posed, under  emotions  of  sympathy  for  the  son,  to  recaU 
the  exiled  father. 

The  senate  now  become  the  supreme  power  at  Rome 
by  the  distaste  which  all  reasonable  men  had  taken  to  thr 
violence  of  the  opposite  party,  were  gratified,  not  merelj 
with  the  test  of  superiority  they  had  gained  in  the  recall  or 
Metellus,  but  likewise  in  the  downfall  of  some  of  the  tri- 
bunes who  had  beentactive  in  the  late  disorders.  So  strong 
was  the  tide  of  popularity  now  opposite  to  its  late  direc- 
tion, and  so  fatal  even  to  their  own  cause  frequently  are 
the  precedents  or  the  rules  by  which  violent  men  think  t« 
obtain  discretionary  power  to  themselves. 

Amidst  these  triumphs  of  the  aristocratical  party,  Sextus 
Titius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  still  had  the  courage  to  move  a 
revival  of  the  Agrarian  law  of  Gracchus.  The  proposal 
was  acceptable  in  the  assembly  of  the  people.  And  the 
edict  was  accordingly  passed;  but  it  was  observed,  that 
while  the  people  were  met  on  this  business,  two  ravens 
fought  in  the  air  above  the  place  of  assembly,  and  the  col- 
lege of  Augurs,  on  pretence  of  this  unfavourable  omen, 
annulled  the  decree.  Titius,  the  author  of  it,  was  soon 
after  condemned  for  having  in  his  house  the  statue  of  Sat- 
urninus. 

Among  the  events  which  distinguished  the  consulate  of 
M.  Antonius  and  A.  Postumius  Albums,  may  be  reckoned 
the  birth  of  Caius  Julius  Cesar,  for  whose  ambition  the 
seeds  of  tribunitian  disorder  now  sown  were  preparing  a 
plentiful  harvest.  This  birth,  it  is  said,  was  ushered  in  with 
many  presages  and  tokens  of  future  greatness.  If  indeed 
we  were  to  believe,  that  nature  in  this  manner  gives  inti- 
mation of  impending  events,  we  should  not  be  surprised 
flbat  her  most  ominous  signs  wore  employed  to  mark  the 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  199 

birth  of  a  personage  who  was  destined  to  change  the  whole 
face  of  the  political  world,  and  to  lay  Rome  herself,  with 
all  the  nations  she  had  conquered,  under  a  perpetuated 
military  government. 

Antonius  and  Albinus  were  succeeded  in  office  by  Q. 
Caecilius  Metellus  and  Titus  Didius.*  The  war  still  con- 
tinued in  Spain,  and  fell  to  the  lot  of  Didius.  Upon  his 
arrival  in  the  province,  Dolabella,  the  propretor,  set  out  on 
his  return  to  Home,  and,  for  his  victories  in  Spain,  obtained 
a  triumph.  Metellus  remained  in  the  administration  ol 
affairs  in  Italy. 

The  administration  of  the  present  year  is  distinguished 
by  an  act  in  which  both  consuls  concurred,  that  every  pro- 
posed law  should  be  made  public  three  market  days  before 
it  could  receive  the  assent  of  the  people  :  that  all  its  differ- 
ent clauses  should  be  separately  voted :  and  that  it  should 
be  lawful  for  the  people  to  pass  or  reject  the  whole  or  any 
part  of  it. 

This  law  had  a  salutary  tendency ;  and,  though  far  from 
sufficient  to  prevent  a  return  of  the  late  evils,  it  served  for 
a  time  to  stop  the  current  of  tribunitian  violence. 

It  is  somewhat  singular,  that  about  this  time,  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  animosity  of  the  people  to  the  senate  and 
nobles,  this  superior  class  of  the  citizens  were  the  patrons 
of  austerity,  and  contended  for  sumptuary  laws,  while  the 
popular  tribunes  contended  for  license. 

Cn.  Cornelius  Lentulus  and  Puhlius  Licinius  Crassus 
being  raised  to  the  office  of  consul,  the  latter  was  appointed 
to  relieve  Didius  in  Spain,  and  the  other  to  succeed  Metel- 
lus in  Italy. 

In  the  following  consulate  the  kingdom  of  Gyrene  was 
bequeathed  to  the  Romans  by  Ptolemy  Appion,  the  late 
king.  But,  as  this  people  professed  themselves  to  be  the 
general  patrons  of  liberty,  where  this  blessing  was  not  for- 
feited by  some  act  of  ingratitude  or  perfidy  in  their  allies, 
they  did  not  avail  themselves  of  this  legacy,  leaving  the 
subjects  of  Cyrene  to  retain  for  some  time  the  independence 
of  their  nation  with  a  species  of  popular  government. 

L.  Licinius  Crassus,  Q.  Mucius  Sccvola,  who  succeeded 
to  the  office  of  consul,  gave  its  name  and  its  date  to  an  act 
of  th«  people  nearly  of  the  same  tenor  with  some  of  those 
formerly  passed  for  the  exclusion  of  aliens.!  By  this  art  ;i 
scrutiny  was  set  on  foot,  and  all  who,  without  a  just  title, 
ventured  to  exercise  any  privilege  of  Roman  citizens 
Were  remitted  to  their  several  boroughs. 

*  U.  C.  635.  t  U.  C.  G5S. 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

In  this  consulate  is  likewise  dated  the  trial  of  Serviliua 
Coepio,  for  his  supposed  misconduct  about  ten  years  before 
in  his  command  of  the  army  against  the  Cimbri.  He  had 
exasperated  the  popular  faction,  by  opposing  the  act  of 
Saturninus  for  the  gratuitous  distribution  of  corn,  and  his 
memies  were  now  encouraged  to  raise  this  prosecution 
against  him.  The  people  gave  sentence  of  condemnation, 
and  violently  drove  from  the  place  of  assembly  two  of  the 
tribunes  Avho  ventured  to  interpose  their  negative  in  his 
favour.  Authors,  according  to  Valerius  Maximus,  have 
uiftercd  in  their  accounts  of  the  sequel ;  some  affirming  that 
Caepio,  being  put  to  death  in  prison,  his  body  was  dragged 
through  the  streets  as  that  of  a  traitor,  and  cast  into  the 
river ;  others,  that  he  was,  by  the  favour  of  Antistius,  one 
of  the  tribunes,  rescued,  or  enabled  to  make  his  escape. 

1  he  war  in  Spain  still  continued ;  and  the  Romans,  hav- 
ing gained  considerable  victories,  sent  ten  commissioners, 
to  endeavour,  in  concert  with  Crassus  and  Didius,  to  make 
such  arrangements  as  might  tend  to  the  future  peace  of 
those  provinces:  but  in  vain;  hostilities  were  again  re- 
newed in  the  following  year. 

L.  Cornelius  Sylla,  who  had  been  questor  in  the  year  of 
Rome  six  hundred  and  forty-six,  now,  after  an  interval  of 
about  fourteen  years,  and  without  having  been  edile,  stood 
candidate  for  the  office  of  pretor.*  But  to  remove  the 
objection  to  his  preferment,  he  gave  out,  that  as  pretor  he 
was  to  exhibit  the  same  shows  which  were  expected  from 
him  as  edile :  and  having,  in  the  following  year,  persisted 
in  his  suit,  he  was  accordingly  elected,  and  fulfilled  the 
expectations  of  the  people ;  insomuch,  that  he  is  said  to 
have  let  loose  in  the  circus  a  hundred  maned  or  male 
lions,  and  to  have  exhibited  the  method  of  baiting  or  fight- 
ing them  by  Mauritanian  huntsmen.  Such  was  the  price 
which  candidates  for  preferment  at  Rome  were  obliged  to 
pay  for  public  favour, 

In  this  variable  scene,  where  so  many  particular  men 
excelled  in  genius  and  magnanimity,  while  the  state  itself 
was  subject  to  the  government  of  a  capricious  and  disor- 
derly multitude,  P.  Rutilius,  late  questor  in  Asia,  exhibited 
a  spectacle  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  lions  of  Sylla. 
Having,  however,  reformed  many  abuses  of  the  equestrian 
tax-gatherers  in  the  province  which  he  governed,  Le  was 
himself  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  an  equestrian  jury, 
to  be  tried  for  the  crime  he  had  restrained  in  others.  In 
this  situation  he  declined  making  any  defence ;  and,  being 

*  U.  C.  m, 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  201 

eondemncil,  retired  to  Smyrna,  where  he  ever  after  lived 
.n  great  tranquillity. 

The  war  in  Spain  which  broke  out  afresh  in  one  of  the 
provinces  was  committed  to  Valerius  Flaccus,  and  the  care 
jf  the  other  to  Perperna,  one  of  the  consuls.  Flaccus,  near 
the  town  of  Belgida,  obtained  a  great  victory,  in  which 
were  slain  about  twenty  thousand  of  the  enemy;  but  he 
could  not  prevail  on  the  canton  to  submit. 

The  war  having  been  likewise  renewed  with  the  Thra- 
cians  on  the  frontiers  of  Macedonia,  Geminius,  who  com- 
manded there  in  the  quality  of  propretor,  was  defeated,  and 
the  province  overrun  by  the  enemy.* 

The  pretor  Sylla,  at  the  expiration  of  his  office,  was  sent 
into  Asia  with  a  commission  to  restore  Ariarathes  to  the 
kingdom  of  Cappadocia,  which  had  been  seized  by  Mithri- 
dates,  and  to  restore  Pylamenes  to  that  of  Paphlagonia, 
from  Avhich  he  had  been  expelled  by  Nicomedcs  king  of 
Bithynia.  The  pretor  having  successfully  executed  both 
these  commissions,  continued  his  journey  to  the  Euphrates, 
where  he  had  a  conference,  and  concluded  a  treaty  with  an 
ambassador  from  Ariarathes  king  of  the  Parthians. 

From  an  edict  of  the  censors,  Cn.  Domitius  Ahenobar- 
bus  and  C.  Licinius  Crassus,  condemning  the  schools  of 
Latin  rhetoric,  it  appears  that  the  Romans,  during  this 
period,  still  received  with  reluctance  the  refinements  which 
were  gradually  taking  place  in  the  literary  as  well  as  in 
the  other  arts. 

The  expectations  of  all  parties  at  Rome,  and  throughout 
Italy,  were  no\v  raised  by  the  projects  of  Livius  Drusus, 
an  active  tribune,  who,  in  order  to  distinguish  himself, 
brought  forward  many  subjects  of  the  greatest  concern  to 
the  public.  He  acted  at  first  in  concert  with  the  leading 
men  of  the  senate,  and  was  supported  by  them  in  order  to 
obtain  some  amendment  in  the  law  as  it  then  stood  with 
respect  to  the  courts  of  justice.  The  equestrian  order  had 
acquired  exclusive  possession  of  the  judicature.  The  sena- 
tors wished  to  recover  at  least  a  share  in  that  prerogative  ; 
and  Drusus,  in  order  to  gratify  them,  moved  for  an  act  of 
which  the  tendency  was,  to  restore  thejudicative  power  <>( 
the  senate. 

Tliis  tribune  likewise  proposed  an  act  to  debase  the  sil- 
ver coin,  by  mixing  an  eighth  of  alloy.  But  the  part  of  his 
project  which  gave  the  greatest  alarm,  was  that  which 
related  to  the  indigent  citizens  of  Rome,  and  to  the  inha- 
bitants of  Italy  in  general. 

*  U.  C.  G61. 


202  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

With  a  view  to  gratify  the  poorer  citizens  he  proposed, 
that  all  the  new  settlements,  projected  by  the  law  of  Caiua 
Gracchus,  should  now  be  carried  into  execution.  The  con- 
sul, Marcus  Perperna,  having  ventured  to  oppose  this  pro- 
posal, he  was,  by  order  of  the  tribune,  taken  into  custody. 

For  the  allies  of  Italy,  Livius  Drusus  proposed  to  obtain 
the  favourite  object  on  which  they  had  been  so  long  intent, 
the  privileges  and  powers  of  Roman  citizens.  In  all  his 
other  proposals,  he  had  the  concurrence  of  some  party  in 
the  commonwealth,  and  by  persuasion,  or  force,  had  ob- 
tained his  purpose ;  but  in  this  he  struck  at  the  personal 
consideration  of  every  citizen,  and  was  opposed  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  whole  people.  Soon  after  this 
motion  had  been  rejected,  Drusus  was  suddenly  taken  ill 
in  the  public  assembly,  and  Papirius  Carbo,  another  of  the 
tribunes,  made  a  short  speech  on  the  occasion,  which, 
among  a  people  prone  to  superstition,  and  ready  to  execute 
whatever  they  conceived  to  be  awarded  by  the  gods,  pro- 
bably hastened  the  fate  of  his  falling  colleague :  "  O  Marcus 
Drusus!"  he  said,  "the  father  I  call,  not  this  degenerate 
son ;  thou  who  usedst  to  say,  The  commonwealth  is  sacred, 
whoever  violates  it  is  sure  to  be  punished.  The  temerity 
of  the  son  has  evinced  the  wisdom  of  the  father."  A  great 
shout  arose  in  the  assembly,  and  Drusus,  being  attended  to 
his  own  house  by  a  numerous  multitude,  received  in  the 
crowd  a  secret  wound  of  which  he  died.  All  his  laws  were 
soon  after  repealed,  as  having  passed  under  unfavourable 
auspices.  But  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  were  not  to  be  ap- 
peased under  their  late  disappointment,  and  discontents 
were  breaking  out  in  every  part  of  the  country,  which 
greatly  alarmed  the  republic. 

In  this  state  of  public  uneasiness,  Q.  Varius  Hybrida,  a 
tribune,  obtained  a  decree  of  the  people,  directing,  that 
inquiry  should  be  made  by  whose  fault  the  allies  had  been 
made  to  expect  the  freedom  of  the  city.  In  consequence 
of  an  inquest  set  on  foot  for  this  purpose,  L.  Calphurnius 
Bestia,  late  consul,  and  M.  Aurelius  Orator,  and  other 
eminent  men,  were  condemned.  Mummius  Achaicus  was 
banished  to  Delos.  Emilius  Scaurus,  who  had  long  main- 
tained his  dignity  as  princeps,  or  first  on  the  roll  of  the 
senate,  was  cited  on  this  occasion  before  the  people  as  a 
person  involved  in  the  same  guilt. 

The  year  following,  Varius  himself  was  tried,  and  con- 
demned agreeably  to  his  own  act ;  and  while  the  prosecu- 
tions suspended  all  ether  civil  affairs,  and  even  the  mea- 
sures required  for  the  safety  of  the  public,  the  inhabitants 
of  Italy  were  forming  dangerous  combinations,  and  wera 


CH.  VI. J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  203 

ready  to  break  out  into  actual  rebellion.  They  wore  exas- 
perated with  having'  their  suit  not  only  refused,  but  in 
having  the  abettors  of  it  at  Rome  considered  as  criminals. 
They  sent  deputies  to  meet  at  Corfinium,  and  to  deliberate 
on  a  plan  of  operations.  Their  deputies  were  to  form  a 
senate,  and  to  choose  two  executive  officers,  under  the 
denomination  of  consuls. 

Upon  a  signal  agreed,  the  Marsi,  Peligni,  Vestini,  Mar- 
cini,  Picentes,  Ferentanae,  Hirpini,  Pompeiani,  Venusini, 
Apuli,  Lucani,  and  Samnites,  took  arms,  and  sent  a  joint 
deputation  to  Rome  to  demand  a  participation  in  the  privi- 
leges of  Roman  citizens ;  of  which  they  had,  by  their  ser- 
vices, contributed  so  largely  to  increase  the  value. 

In  answer  to  this  demand  they  were  told  by  the  senate, 
that  they  must  discontinue  their  assemblies,  and  renounce 
their  pretensions ;  otherwise,  that  they  must  not  presume 
to  send  any  other  message  to  Rome. 

War  being  thus  declared,  both  parties  prepared  for  the 
contest.*  The  allies  mustered  a  liundred  thousand  men, 
in  different  bodies,  and  under  different  leaders.  The 
Romans  found  themselves  in  an  instant  brought  back  to 
the  condition  in  which  they  had  been  about  three  hundred 
years  before ;  reduced  to  a  few  miles  of  territory  round  their 
walls,  and  beset  with  enemies  more  united,  and  more  nu- 
merous than  ever  had  assailed  them  at  once  on  the  same 
ground.  But  their  city  was  likewise  enlarged,  their  num- 
bers increased,  and  every  individual  excellently  formed  to 
serve  the  state,  as  a  warrior  and  a  citizen.  All  of  them 
assumed,  upon  this  occasion,  the  sagum,  or  military  dress ; 
and  being  joined  by  such  of  the  Latins  as  remained  in  their 
allegiance,  and  by  such  of  their  colonies,  from  different 
parts  of  Italy  as  continued  to  be  faithful,  together  with 
some  mercenaries  from  Gaul  and  Numidia,  they  assembled 
a  force  equal  to  that  of  the  allies. 

The  consuls  were  placed  at  the  head  of  the  two  principal 
armies  ;  Lucius  Julius  Caesar,  in  the  country  of  the  Sam- 
nites.f  and  Rutilius,  in  that  of  the  Marsi.  J  They  had  under 
their  command  the  most  celebrated  and  experienced  officer* 
of  the  republic  ;  but  little  more  is  preserved  to  furnish  ou  t 
the  history  of  this  war  than  the  names  of  the  Roman  com- 
manders, and  those  of  the  persons  opposed  to  them. 

One  of  the  consuls,  Lucius  Caesar,  in  the  first  encounter 
jf  the  war,  was  defeated  by  Vetius  Cato  near  Esernia,  and 
lad  two  thousand  men  killed  in  the  field.  The  town  of 
ksernia  was  immediately  invested,  and  some  Roman  ofli- 

*  U.  C.  663.  t   Now  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 

J  Contiguous  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  state. 


204  HISTORY  OF  THE    '  [B.  11. 

cers  of  distinction  were  obliged  to  make  their  escape  in  the 
disguise  of  slaves.  Two  Roman  cohorts  were  cut  off  at 
Venafrum,  and  that  colony  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
The  other  consul,  Rutilius,  was  likewise  defeated  by  the 
Marsi,  and  fell  in  the  field,  with  eight  thousand  men  of  his 
army,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  campaign,  the  army 
acted  under  the  direction  of  the  late  consuls,  Marius  and 
Caepio. 

In  the  mean  time,  Lucius  Caesar  obtained  a  victory  in  the 
country  of  the  Samnites ;  and  the  senate,  in  order  to  restore 
the  confidence  of  the  people,  as  if  this  victory  had  suppres- 
sed the  revolt,  resolved,  that  the  sagum,  or  military  dress> 
ihould  be  laid  aside. 

The  usual  time  of  the  consular  elections  being  come,  Cn. 
Pompeius  Strabo  and  Porcius  Cato  were  named. 

Pompey  gained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Marsi ;  and 
notwithstanding  an  obstinate  defence,  reduced  the  city  of 
Asculum,  where  hostilities  at  first  had  commenced,  and 
where  the  Romans  had  suffered  the  greatest  outrage.*  The 
principal  inhabitants  of  the  place  were  put  to  death,  the 
remainder  were  sold  for  slaves.  The  other  consul,  Cato, 
was  killed  in  the  attack  upon  the  intrenchments  of  the 
Marsi ;  and  although  Marius  and  Sylla,  in  different  quar- 
ters, had  turned  the  fortune  of  the  war  against  the  allies, 
yet  the  event  still  continued  to  be  extremely  doubtful. 

The  Umbrians,  Etruscans,  and  inhabitants  of  other  dis- 
tricts of  Italy,  who  had  hitherto  hesitated  in  the  choice  of 
their  party,  took  courage  from  the  perseverance  and  suc- 
cess of  their  neighbours,  and  openly  joined  the  revolt. 

Mithridates,  the  king  of  Pontus,  did  not  neglect  the  occa- 
sion that  was  offered  to  him ;  he  expelled  Nicomedes  from 
Bithynia,  and  Ariobarzanes  from  Cappadocia,  and  made 
himself  master  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Lesser  Asia. 

In  this  extremity  it  appeared  necessary  to  comply  with 
the  demands  of  the  allies,  and  the  Latins,  who  had  con- 
tinued in  their  allegiance,  were,  in  consideration  of  theii 
fidelity,  admitted  to  all  the  privileges  of  Roman  citizens. 
The  Umbri  and  Tuscans,  Avho  either  had  not  yet  declared, 
or  who  had  been  least  forward  in  the  war,  were  next 
comprehended;  and  the  other  inhabitants  of  Italy,  observ- 
ing, that  they  were  likely  to  obtain  by  favour  what  they 
endeavoured  to  extort  by  force,  grew  remiss  in  the  war, 
or  withdrew  from  the  league,  that  they  might  appear  to  b« 
forward  in  the  general  return  to  peace. 

The  Marsi,  Samnites,  and  Lucanians,  who  had  been  the 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  203 

principal  authors  of  the  revolt,  or  who  had  acted  with  most 
animosity  in  the  conduct  of  it,  continued  for  some  time  to 
be  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  Romans.  But  the  civil 
war,  which  soon  after  broke  out  among  the  citizens  them- 
selves, terminated  either  in  the  extirpation  of  those  aliens 
and  in  the  settlement  of  Roman  colonies  in  their  stead,  OT 
gave  them  an  opportunity,  under  favour  of  the  party  they 
espoused,  of  gaining  admittance  to  the  privilege  to  which 
\hey  aspired  :  so  that,  in  a  few  years,  all  the  inhabitants  o* 
Italy,  from  the  Rubicon  to  the  straits  of  Messina,  were  bo- 
come  citizens  of  Rome  ;  and  a  constitution  of  state,  whici 
had  been  already  overcharged  by  the  numbers  that  partook 
of  its  sovereignty,  was  now  altogether  overwhelmed. 

Licinius  Crassus  and  L.  Julius  Caesar  were  chosen  cen- 
sors, in  order  to  make  up  the  new  rolls  of  the  people.  This, 
it  is  likei  '  was  found  to  be  a  difficult  and  tedious  work. 
It  became  fiecessary  to  scrutinize  the  rolls  of  every  separate 
borough,  in  order  to  know  who  were  entitled  to  be  added 
to  the  list  of  Roman  citizens. 

The  number  of  the  aliens  admitted  on  the  rolls,  at  this 
muster,  is  not  recorded  ;  but  it  was  probably  equal  to  that 
of  the  ancient  citizens,  and  might  have  instantly  formed  a 
very  powerful  and  dangerous  faction  in  the  state,  if  ettec- 
tual  measures  had  not  been  taken  to  guard  against  the 
4?ftect  of  their  influence.  For  this  purpose,  they  were  not 
mixed  promiscuously  with  the  mass  of  the  people,  but  con- 
fined to  eight  particular  tribes ;  by  which  means  they  could 
only  influence  eight  votes  in  thirty-five  ;  and  the  ancient 
citizens  were  still  possessed  of  a  great  majority. 


CHAP.  VII. 

I'riumph  of  Pompe.'ut  Strabo—Progrett  of  Sylla—  War  with  the  King  of 
Pontut—Rite  of  that  Kingdom— Appointment  of  Sylla  to  Command  - 
Policy  of  the  Tribune  Sulpiciut-Sylla't  Coimnurion  recalled  in  Fav- 
our of  Marhu— Hi*  March  from  Campania  to  Rome—Erpelt  Mariut 
and  hit  faction  Jroin  the  City  Hit  Operation*  in  Greece—  Siege  of 
Athent  -Hottle  of  Chtrronea-Of  Orchotnenot  —  Trantactiont  at  Horn* 
—  Policy  of  Cinna—Mariia  Recalled -Cinna  Jliet,  and  it  deprived— 
Recover*  the  pottenion  of  Rome—  Treaty  oj  Sylla  with  Milhridatet—lle 
pane*  into  Italy  -  It  opposed  by  numerout  Armiet  -  yariota  E<en<!i 
of  the  War  in  Italy  Ktjlla  pre •  ail*  Hit  Protcription  or  Mattacre  — 
fiamed  Dictator -Hit  Policy  -  Resignation  and  Death. 

THB  social  war,  though  far  from  being  successful,  concluded 
With  a  triumphal  procession ;  and  the  senate,  though  »ctu- 

S 


206  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

ally  obliged  to  yield  the  point  for  which  they  contended, 
thought  proper,  under  pretence  of  advantages  gained  on 
some  particular  occasions,  to  erect  a  trophy.  They  singled 
out  Pompeius  Strabo  for  the  pageant  in  this  ceremony  ; 
either  because  he  had  reduced  Asculum,  where  the  rebel- 
lion first  broke  out,  or  because  a  victory  obtained  by  him 
'iad  most  immediately  preceded  the  peace. 

Sylla,  by  his  conduct  and  his  successes  wherever  he  had 
borne  a  separate  command  in  this  war,  gave  proof  of  that 
superior  genius  by  which  he  now  began  to  be  distinguished. 
By  his  magnanimity  on  all  occasions,  by  his  great  Courage 
in  danger,  by  his  imperious  exactions  from  the  enemy,  and 
by  his  lavish  profusion  to  his  own  troops,  he  obtained,  in  r» 
very  high  degree,  the  confidence  and  attachment  of  his  sol- 
diers ;  and  yet  in  this,  it  is  probable,  he  acted  from  temper, 
and  not  from  design,  or  with  any  view  to  what  followed. 

With  the  merits  he  had  recently  displayed  in  this  war, 
he  repaired  to  the  city,  laid  claim  to  the  consulate,  and  was 
accordingly  chosen  in  conjunction  with  Quintus  Pompeius 
Rufus.* 

It  was  thought  necessary  still  to  keep  a  proper  force  un- 
der arms  in  Italy,  until  the  public  tranquillity  should  be 
fully  established;  but  the  war  with  Mithridates,  king  of 
Pontus,  was  the  principal  object  of  attention ;  and  this 
province,  together  with  the  army  then  lying  in  Campania, 
fell  to  the  lot  of  Sylla. 

The  monarchy  of  Pontus  had  risen  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
Macedonian  establishments  in  Asia ;  and  upon  their  entire 
suppression,  was  become  one  of  the  most  considerable  king- 
doms of  the  east.  Mithridates  had  inherited  from  his  an- 
cestors a  great  extent  of  territory,  reaching  in  length, 
according  to  the  representation  of  his  own  ambassador  in 
Appian,  twenty  thousand  stadia,  above  two  thousand  miles. 
He  himself  had  joined  to  it  the  kingdom  of  Colchis,  and  other 
provinces  on  the  coasts  of  the  Euxine  sea.  His  national 
troops  amounted  to  three  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  forty 
thousand  horse,  besides  auxiliaries  from  Thrace,  and  from 
that  part  of  Scythia  which  lies  on  the  Meotis  and  the  Tan- 
ais,  countries  over  which  he  had  acquired  an  ascendant 
approaching  to  a  sovereignty. 

About  the  time  that  the  social  war  broke  out,  Nicomedes, 
who  had  been  recently  restored  to  the  crown  of  Bithynia, 
made  hostile  incursions  under  the  encouragement  of  the 
Romans,  even  into  the  kingdom  of  Pontus.  Mithridates, 
having  made  fruitless  complaints  to  them  on  this  subject ; 

*  U.  C.  665. 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  207 

and  thinking-  that  the  distracted  state  of  Italy  furnished 
him  with  a  favourable  opportunity  to  slight  their  resent- 
ment, he  sent  his  son  Ariarathes  into  Cappadocia  with  a 
force  to  expel  Ariobarzanes,  though  an  ally  of  the  Romans, 
arid  to  possess  that  kingdom.  He  took  the  field  himself, 
and  sent  powerful  armies,  under  his  generals,  against  Niro- 
modes,  and  against  the  Romans,  who  had  assembled  all  the 
force  of  their  province  and  of  their  allies,  to  the  amount  of 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  in  different  bodies, 
to  defend  their  own  frontier,  or  to  annoy  their  enemy. 

Mithridates  fell  separately  upon  the  several  divisions  of 
his  enemies'  forces  ;  and  having  defeated  them,  obliged  the 
Romans,  with  their  ally,  to  retire.  His  fleet,  likewise,  con- 
sisting of  three  hundred  galleys,  opened  the  passage  of  the 
Hellespont,  took  all  the  ships  which  the  Romans  had  sta- 
tioned in  those  straits ;  and  he  liimself  soon  after  in  person 
traversed  Phrygia  and  the  Lesser  Asia,  to  the  sea  of  Cilicia 
and  Greece. 

Manius  Aquilius  and  C.  Oppiu%  two  of  the  Roman  com- 
manders, fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  were  treated 
with  scorn  ;  the  former  with  a  barbarity  which  nothing1 
but  the  most  criminal  abuse  of  the  power  he  lately  posses- 
sed could  have  deserved  or  provoked.  Being  carried  round 
the  cities  of  Asia  on  an  ass,  he  was  obliged  at  every  place 
to  declare,  that  his  own  avarice  was  the  cause  of  the  war; 
and  he  was  at  last  put  to  death  by  the  pouring  of  melted 
gold  into  his  throat. 

While  Mithridates  thus  overwhelmed  his  enemies,  and 
was  endeavouring  to  complete  his  conquest  of  Asia  by  the 
reduction  of  Rhodes,  he  ordered  his  general  Archelaus  to 
penetrate  by  the  way  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia  into 
Greece. 

Such  was  the  alarming  state  of  the  war  when  the  Ro- 
mans, having,  scarcely  appeased  the  troubles  in  Italy,  ap- 
pointed L.  Cornelius  Sylla  with  six  legions  that  lay  in 
Campania,  to  embark  for  Greece,  in  order,  if  possiblev  to 
stem  a  torrent  which  no  ordinary  bars  were  likely  to  with- 
stand. 

But  before  Sylla  or  his  colleague  could  depart  for  their 
provinces,  disorders  an»-e  in  tin-  city,  which,  without  wait- 
ing the  approach  of  foreign  enemies,  brought  armies  t'» 
battle  in  the  streets,  and  covered  the  pavements  of  Rome 
with  the  slain. 

i'ublius  Sulpicius,  tribune  of  the  people,  with  a  singular 
boldness  and  profligacy,  ventured  to  tamper  with  the  dan- 
gerous humours  which  were  but  ill  suppressed  in  the  event 
of  the  Into  troubles ;  and  kindled  the  former  animosity  ol 


208  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II 

the  popular  and  senatorian  parties.  This  tribune,  accord- 
ing1 to  Plutarch,  had  three  thousand  gladiators  in  his  pay, 
and  in  despite  of  the  la\v,  held  ever  at  his  back  a  numerous 
company  of  reta  ners,  armed  with  daggers  and  other  offen- 
sive weapons.  He  moved  the  people  to  recall  from  exile 
all  those  who  had  fled  from  the  city  on  occasion  of  the 
former  disorders,  and  to  admit  the  new  citizens  and  en- 
franchised slaves  to  be  enrolled  promiscuously  in  all  the 
tribes  without  regard  to  the  late  wise  limitation  of  the 
senate's  decree,  by  which  they  were  restricted  to  four. 

The  more  respectable  citizens,  and  the  magistrates,  in 
vain  withstood  these  abuses.  They  were  overpowered  by 
force,  and  frequently  driven  from  the  place  of  assembly. 
In  this  extremity  they  had  recourse  to  superstition,  and  by 
multiplying  holidays,  endeavoured  to  step  or  to  discon- 
cert their  antagonists.  But  Sulpicius,  with  his  party,  laid 
violent  hands  on  the  consuls,  in  order  to  force  them  to 
recall  these  appointments.  Young  Pompey,  the  son  of  the 
present  consul,  and  son-in-law  to  Sylla,  who  had  with- 
drawn from  the  tumult,  feeling  that  he  was  in  the  power  of 
his  enemies,  and  being  impatient  to  get  into  a  situation 
in  which  he  could  more  effectually  resist  them,  chose  for 
the  present  to  comply  with  their  demands. 

In  the  midst  of  these  violences,  the  city  being  under  an 
actual  usurpation  or  tyranny,  Sylla  repaired  to  the  army 
in  Campania,  Avith  a  resolution  to  pursue  the  object  of  his 
command  in  Asia,  and  to  leave  the  tribunitian  storms  at 
Rome  to  spend  their  force.  But  soon  after  his  departure, 
it  appeared,  that  Marius  was  no  stranger  to  the  councils  of 
Sulpicius ;  for  by  means  of  this  tribune,  he  got  the  people 
to  revoke  the  appointment  of  the  senate,  and  to  supersede 
his  rival  Sylla  in  the  command  of  the  army  against  Mith- 
ridates.  The  proper  officers  were  sent  to  intimate  his 
appointment  to  Sylla,  and  to  receive  from  him,  in  behalf  of 
his  successor,  the  charge  of  the  army,  and  the  delivery  of 
the  stores ;  but  Sylla  had  the  address  to  defeat  the  whole 
project,  by  making  the  troops  apprehend  that  this  change 
was  equally  prejudicial  to  them  as  to  himself.  A  tumult 
arose  among  the  soldiers  ;  and  citizens  vested  with  a  public 
character,  formally  commissioned  to  intimate  an  order  of 
the  Roman  people,  and  delivering  their  commands  to  thia 
purpose,  were  slain  in  the  camp.  In  return  to  this  out- 
rage, some  relations  and  friends  of  Sylla  were  murdered  in 
the  city.  Stung  with  rage,  and  probably  thinking  that  force 
would  be  justified  in  snatching  the  republic  out  of  such 
violent  hands,  Sylla  proposed  to  the^  army  that  they  should 
march  to  Rome.  The  proposal  was  received  with  joy  ;  and 


Cn.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  209 

the  army,  without  any  of  the  scruples,  or  any  degree  of 
that  hesitation  which  is  ascribed  to  their  commander  in 
adopting-  this  measure,  followed  where  he  thought  proper 
to  lead  them. 

On  this  new  and  dangerous  appearance  of  things,  lot 
only  Marius  and  Sulpicius,  with  the  persons  most  obnoxi- 
ous on  account  of  the  insults  offered  to  Sylla  and  other 
respectable  citizens,  were  seized  with  consternation ;  but 
even  the  senate  and  the  nobles  were  justly  alarmed. 

Th«»  senate  sent  a  deputation  to  Sylla,  with  entreaties, 
and  with  commands,  that  he  would  not  advance  to  the  city ; 
but  the  deputation  was  received  by  him  only  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  gates.  He  gave  orders,  in  the  hearing  <?f  the 
deputies,  that  the  armies  should  halt,  but  as  soon  as  he 
thought  this  intelligence  had  reached  the  city,  and  had 
lulled  h;s  antagonists  into  a  state  of  security,  he  moved 
forward  with  a  detachment  and  seized  the  nearest  gate.  The 
people,  in  tumult,  endeavoured  to  recover  it ;  Marius 
secured  the  capitol,  and  summoned  every  man,  whether 
freemen  or  slaves,  to  repair  to  his  standard.  His  party,  as 
they  assembled,  were  drawn  up  in  the  streets.  Sylla,  in 
the  mean  time,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  rushed  through  the 
gate,  which  his  vanguard  still  maintained  against  the  mul- 
titudes by  whom  they  were  pressed.  He  was  greatly  an- 
noyed from  the  battlements  and  windows  as  he  passed,  and 
might  have  been  repulsed  by  the  forces,  which  Marius  had 
assembled,  if  he  had  not  commanded  the  city  to  be  set  on 
tire,  in  order  to  profit  by  the  confusion  into  which  the  peo- 
ple were  likely  to  be  thrown  in  avoiding  or  extinguishing 
the  flames.  By  this  expedient  he  drove  Marius  from  all 
the  stations  he  had  occupied,  forced  him  to  abandon  the 
city,  and  obliged  his  adherents  to  separate. 

While  the  army  was  distributed  in  different  quarters  of  a 
city,  deformed  with  recent  marks  of  bloodshed  and  fire, 
their  general  assembled  the  senate,  and  desired  them  to 
deliberate  on  the  present  state  of  affairs.  Among  the  mea- 
sures he  suggested  on  this  occasion,  was  n  law  by  \\  liirh 
Harms,  with  his  son,  and  twelve  of  hU  faction,  who  hud 
eacreted  themselves,  were  declared  enemies  of  their  coun- 
try. This  sentence  was  accompanied  with  a  public,  injuiu  - 
tion  to  seize  or  kill  them  wherever  they  could  be  founu. 
The  tribune  Sulpicius,  having  fled  to  the  marshes  on  tli* 
coast  near  Laurentum,  was  dragged  from  thence  and  slain. 
His  head,  severed  from  the  body,  was  exposed  on  one  of 
the  rostra;  an  example  afterwards  frequently  imitated. 

Marius  fled  to  Ostia,  and  there  embarked  on  board  a  ves« 
*&l  which  was  provided  fur  him  by  Numerius,  who  had  been 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

one  of  his  partisans  in  the  late  troubles.  Having-  put  to 
sea,  he  was  forced  by  stress  of  Aveather  to  Circeii,  there 
landed  in  want  of  every  necessary,  and  made  himself  known 
to  some  herdsmen,  of  whom  he  implored  relief.  Being 
informed  of  the  parties  that  were  abroad  in  pursuit  of  him, 
he  took  refuge  in  a  cottage,  afterwards  under  a  hollow 
bank  of  the  river,  and,  last  of  all,  on  hearing  the  tread  of 
the  horsemen,  who  still  pursued  him,  he  plunged  himself  to 
the  chin  in  the  marsh  ;  but,  though  concealed  by  the  reeds 
and  the  depth  of  the  water,  he  was  discovered  and  dragged 
from  thence  all  covered  with  mud.  He  was  carried  to 
Minturnae,  and  doomed  by  the  magistrates  of  the  place  to 
suffer  the  execution  of  the  sentence  which  had  been  de- 
nounced against  himself  and  his  partisans  at  Rome.  He 
was,  however,  by  some  connivance,  allowed  to  escape 
from  hence,  again  put  to  sea,  and,  at  the  island  JEnaria, 
joined  some  associates  of  his  flight.  Being  afterwards 
obliged  to  land  in  Sicily  for  a  supply  of  water,  and  being 
known,  he  narrowly  escaped  with  the  loss  of  some  of  the 
crew  that  navigated  his  vessel.  From  thence  he  arrived  on 
the  coast  of  Africa ;  but,  being  forbid  the  province  by  the 
Pretor  Sextilius,  continued  to  shift  his  abode  among  the 
islands  or  places  of  retirement  on  the  coast. 

The  senate,  thus  restored  to  its  authority,  and,  by  the 
suppression  of  the  late  sedition,  masters  of  the  city,  took 
the  proper  measures  to  prevent,  for  the  future,  such  viola- 
tions of  order  introduced  for  popular  government.  They 
resolved  th.it  no  question  of  legislation  should  be  agitated 
in  the  assembly  of  the  tribes  ;  and  Sylla,  before  he  left  the 
city,  thought  proper  to  despatch  the  election  of  consuls  for 
the  following  year.  Together  with  Octavius,  who  had  the 
authority  of  the  senate  at  heart,  he  suffered  €5nna,  though 
of  the  opposite  faction,  to  be  chosen,  and  only  exacted  a 
promise  from  him  not  to  disturb  the  public  peace,  nor,  in 
liis  absence,  to  attempt  any  tiling  derogatory  of  his  own 
onour. 

Having  in  this  manner  restored  the  commonwealth.  Sylla 
set  out  with  his  army  for  their  destination  in  Greece.  The 
king  of  Pontus,  notwithstanding  he  had  been  disappointed 
in  his  attempt  upon  Rhodes,  was  become  master  of  the 
Lesser  Asia,  had  fixed  his  residence  at  Pergamus,  and  em- 
ployed his  officers,  with  numerous  fleets  and  armies,  to 
carry  on  the  war  in  different  quarters,  making  rapid  ac- 
quisitions at  once  on  the  side  of  the  Scythian  and  Thraeian 
Bosphorus,  in  Macedonia,  and  in  Greece.  His  general, 
Arehelaus,  had  reduced  most  of  the  Greek  islands,  and  was 
hastening  to  make  himself  master  of  the  Grecian  continent. 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  211 

To  these  powerful  encroachments  on  the  Roman  teni- 
«ory,  and  to  the  personal  injuries  done  to  such  of  their  gen- 
erals as  had  fallen  into  his  hands  Mithridates  had  joined  a 
barbarous  outrage,  that  roused,  in  the  highest  degree,  the 
resentment  of  the  Roman  people.  He  had  sent  orders  to 
all  his  commanders  in  every  town  and  station  in  Asia,  on  a 
day  fixed,  to  begin  a  massacre  of  the  Roman  citizens  that 
were  anywhere  settled  in  that  country,  and  to  publish  a 
reward  for  the  slaves  of  any  Roman  who  should  succeed 
in  destroying  their  master.  This  order  was  executed  with 
marks  of  insult,  in  which  the  instruments  of  cruelty  are 
often  apt  to  exceed  their  instructions.  It  is  particularly 
mentioned,  that  at  Ephesus,  Pergamus,  and  other  cities  of 
Asia,  entire  families  taking  refuge  in  the  temples,  and 
embracing  the  altars,  infants  with  their  parents,  and  with- 
out distinction  of  sex  or  age,  were  dragged  from  thence 
and  murdered.  The  number  of  persons  that  perished  in 
this  massacre  is  nowhere  mentioned. 

Having  transported  to  Dyrrachium  an  army  of  six  legions 
Sylla  took  the  route  of  Thessaly  and  TEtolia;  and  having 
raised  in  these  countries  contributions  for  the  pay  and  sub- 
sistence of  his  army,  he  received  the  submission  of  the  Beo- 
tians,  who  had  lately  been  obliged  to  declare  for  Mithri- 
dates,  and  advanced  against  Athens,  where  Aristion  in  the 
city,  and  Archelaus  in  the  Pyraeus,  were  prepared  to  make 
a  vigorous  resistance.  Mithridates,  who  was  master  of  the 
sea,  collected  together  all  the  troops  which  he  had  distri- 
buted in  the  islands,  and  ordered  a  great  reinforcement 
from  Asia  to  form  an  army  on  the  side  of  Beotia  for  the 
relief  of  Athens. 

Sylla,  to  prevent  the  enemy,  hastened  tho  siege  of  this 
place.  He  first  made  an  attempt  to  force  his  way  into  the 
Pyneus  by  scaling  the  walls  ;  but  being  repulsed,  had  re- 
course to  the  ordinary  means  of  attack.  But  the  defence 
of  the  place  was  vigorous  and  obstinate,  and  so  well  con- 
ducted, that  he  was  obliged,  after  many  fruitless  efforts,  to 
turn  the  siege  into  a  blockade,  and  to  await  the  effects  of 
famine,  by  which  the  city  began  already  to  be  pressed. 

It  was  in  a  little  time  brought  to  the  last  extremity,  and 
Sylla,  knowing  the  weak  state  to  which  tho  besieged  were 
reduced,  made  a  vigorous  effort,  stormed  and  forced  the 
walla  with  great  slaughter.  Archelaus,  greatly  distressed 
in  the  Pyraeus,  found  means  to  escape  by  water,  and  has- 
tened to  join  the  army  that  was  forming  on  the  side  of 
Thessaly,  leaving  the  post  he  abandoned  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  Sylla,  who  razed  its  fortifications  to  the  ground. 

The  army  of  Mithridates  amounting  to  about  a  hundred 


812  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  It. 

and  twenty  thousand  men,  advanced  into  Beotia.  Sylla 
was  to  oppose  them  with  thirty  thousand  men.  Archelaus, 
who  commanded  (lie  army  of  1'ontus,  endeavoured  to  bring 
on  n  general  action,  which  Sylla  cautiously  avoided;  wait- 
ing for  an  opportunity  that  might  deprive  the  enemy  of 
the  advantage  they  had  in  the  superiority  of  their  numbers. 
The  armies  being  both  in  Beotia,  Archelaus  took  post,  near 
Cheronea,  on  the  ascent  of  a  steep  hill  that  was  formed  in 
terraces  by  ledges  of  rocks,  and  which  terminated  at  last 
in  a  peak  or  narrow  summit  On  the  faceol'this  hill  he  had 
crowded  his  infantry,  his  cavalry,  and  his  chariots,  and 
trusted  that,  although  the  ground  was  unfavourable  to  such 
an  army,  it  was  still  inaccessible,  and  could  not  be  reached 
by  an  enemy. 

While  Archelaus  believed  himself  secure  in  this  position, 
Sylla  made  a  disposition  to  engage,  and  sent  a  powerful 
detachment,  to  seize  oil  the  heights  above  their  encamp- 
ment, whose  impetuous  descent  from  the  hill  drove  in  con- 
fusion all  who  came  in  their  way  from  thence  to  the  camp. 
The  rear  fell  down  on  the  front.  A  great  uproar  and 
tumult  arose  in  every  part.  And  in  this  critical  moment 
Sylla  began  his  attack,  and  broke  into  the  midst  of  enemies 
who  were  altogether  unprepared  to  receive  him.  They 
were  crowded  in  a  narrow  space,  and  mixed  without  any 
distinction  of  separate  bodies,  of  officers,  or  men;  and, 
under  the  disadvantage  of  their  ground,  could  neither  resist 
nor  retire.  In  the  centre,  numbers  being  trod  underfoot  by 
those  who  crowded  around  them,  perished  by  violence  or 
MiMocation  ;  or,  while  they  endeavoured  to  open  a  way  to 
escape,  were  slain  by  each  other's  swords.  Of  a  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  men,  scarcely  ten  thousand  could  1".' 
assembled  at  Chalcis  in  Kubea,  the  place  to  which  Arche- 
laus directed  his  flight. 

Mithridates,  er«n  after  this  rout  of  his  army,  being  still 
master  at  sea,  made  great  ett'orts  to  replace  his  army  in 
Beotia;  and  in  a  little  time  had  transported  thither  eighty 
thousand  fresh  troops  under  Dorilaus,  to  whom  Archelaus 
joined  himself  with  those  he  had  saved  from  the  late  disas- 
ter. The  new  army  of  Mithridates,  consisting  chietly  ol 
cavalry,  was  greatly  favoured  by  the  nature  of  the  ground 
in  Beotia,  which  was  flat  and  abounding  in  forage.  Sylla, 
though  inclined  to  keep  the  heights,  on  which  he  was  lea^t 
exposed  to  the  enemy's  cavalry,  was  obliged,  in  order  to 
cover  the  country  from  which  ho  drew  his  subsistence  and 
forage,  to  descend  to  the  plains  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Orchomenos.  There  he  took  post  among  the  marshes,  and 
•atloiivourad  to  fortify  himself  with  depp  ditches  against 


CM.  VII.]  ROMAN  KKI'lll'.l.M  ^i., 

tl neiny'n  Imr  e.      \Vhile  hi*  \vnrku  \\eie  yr|  unlininhml, 

heiiitf  attacked  hythe  A>.ial  ic  ca\  :ilry,  mil  only  thelahmir- 
eiN,  luit  tin-  troop,  that  u  ere  placed  mull  i  .nin  (<>  rovor 
tin*  workmen,  were  M-i/.cd  \\illi  ;i  panic,  ;ui<l  lied.  Sylla, 
Im-.vever,  rallied  tin-in,  idopped  th.-  rureer  of  tlm  enemy, 

Illlil     put     them    to    Ill-lit  .       Tin-     KM m. in    ;inn\    lit    leie-ll,    re- 
covered it    ell   ill  every  pai  I  ol   I  he  held  ,  and  Sylla,  lemoiint 
in:-    Ilirt  hoi    e,  look   tin-  lull    advanla-e  of    tin-  .  han  •••    ,,|     |,,  . 
l.utmie,  pursued  th«-  enemy  to  their  camp,  :in<t  I oi  <•«•»!  tli.-n 

l.o  utmridnn  it  with  K"'('iit.  hlm^lttcr. 

Allrr  lint  lott  Of  tlllt  »<•<•«  nnl  :irmy,  .Mil  In  i.|;i|  c  :ippi-ar 
lllf^  1(»  liavi'  (li-.pairi-il  ul  In  allair.  in  <  ii  i-crc,  nut Inn  i/c( 
Arcliclau  .  t(.  1 1  «-:i I  «.(  |i« •;!<«•.  I'.ol  li  |>ai  I  n-  >  \\  i-n-  «'(jiially  in- 
rlinc.l  to  a  tirat  v  ;  tin-  Kin;,'  <>|  I'onln 

mill  tin-  Itoiuaii  |. io,-, ni  nl  l>y  thn  ^tatc  n|  allau^  in  Italy 
S\  ll:i  tlion-li  roinniaii<ln>:<  in  <  .1  i-i-ri-  liy  autlioiity  IfOIll  tllA 
K-niiaii  •••n. iti-.  liail  IHTII  ,|,-"ia.l.-.l.  and  ilrrlarcd  a  puMir 
•Miciny  l»y  a  M',olntioii  o|  tin-  pi-opl.-  at  li.,im-.  An  dllirn  had 
I..-. -n  .-ill  1mm  Italy  to  np<-i  .•«!,.  I, mi  ;  and  a  Unman  army, 
indi-pi-iid.-nt  ol  his  order,,  \van  artually  rmployrd  in  ih.-  |>r<>. 
VIIK-I-.  IVIillir  idati'^  ton,  u  liilr  lie  had  MI  tam.-d  n.  h  Inshi'n 
In  (Jn-i'fo,  wan  pn-sm-d  l»y  the  otln-r  Koiniui  army  in  Asia, 
uml.-r  tin'  command  nl  1'imlnia,  \\lio,  \\ilh  mli-nt  M.IH 
cipially  ho  til.-  to  Sylla  a-,  to  Mil  In  idatr  ,  ad  vanrcd  u  it  h  it 
rapid  pare,  reduced  neveral  to\\n^  mi  the  coa.t,  and  had 
lately  m;ide  him^/'ll  ma  l.-r  (d  1'i-u-amn  ,  \\here  DIM  kin^ 
l.inr.ell  had  »iarro\ily  e  .raped  lallin«  into  his  hand  In 
the  <•  <-iH-mnntauc«a  ft  treaty  \va:\  equally  HeiiMonable  for 

both. 

S^llahad! n  al.  .ent  li  om    Home   ahoiit    t  \\  o  year  •,  dm  - 

liitf  \vhirh   lime.    <  inna,   not  \\illi  landing  hin  <MiKH«ement^ 

to   Sylla,    revived   Hie    |ilo|crt     o|     Ueeplll"     the     niorele     perl 

ulile  citi/en  ,  in  >nl. lion,  under  pretence  of  u  ^ovenum-nt 

placed   in  the  Imild  ,  of  the   people. 

The  di- ^nation   ot   the  popular  parlj  e  \\ith 

that,  xvhidi  had  di-diiiKiiiHhed  the  lolloxvei  ,  .,|  T,!,,-.,!,  and 
CaiiiH  (JrnrrliiiH;  Imf  the  ol.|e.  I  \\  a  changed,  and  Iheno 
minal  |io|)ulur  faction  it  ••!!  UH  >  dillei  eiit  ly  rom|WH<»d.  At 

pie    enl    the  puitie-.  •• led  "I   the  ,  nl  ,ahi  I  a  lit  ,  ol  the  c,,,,,, 

try  t«»\vns  lately  admitted,  or  Mil!  claiming  to  he  admitted, 

oil    the  roll  .  ot   the  people  on  one     jde,  and  (d  tl n.ite  and 

an. -lent,    ritr/eir*    on    the  other.      'II hj«d    «••   u  hi.  h   the 

tormer  a  pn  ed,  \\  .^  a  full  and  e.pial  p.u  I  inpalmn  in  all  the 
pouei,  that  l,e|M,.'.-d  i,,  the  lloinan  |.e..|de.  Ihey  \vrrn 

far  from  being  Hlltisficd  \\  ilh  the  n nei   ot  their  eniolment 

into  u  le\v  parfUM.lai  trlbOK,  and  laid  .  lain,  to  hn  admitted 
\vitli»iit  didinrtlon  IITIK»HL'  tin-  :uirieu«  rilixwni  .and  to  lnvve 


214  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

consideration  and  power  proportioned  to  their  numbers.  In 
this  they  were  supported  by  Cinna,  who  made  a  motion  in 
their  favour  in  the  assembly  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  proposed  to  recall  Marius  and  the  other  exiles  of  that 
party  from  their  banishment.  The  consul  Octavius,  with 
the  majority  of  the  senate  and  ancient  citizens,  opposed 
these  propositions ;  and  being  told  that  the  tribunes  who 
had  forbidden  the  question  were  violently  attacked,  and 
likely  to  be  forced  from  the  assembly,  they  came  forth  into 
the  streets,  and  drove  their  antagonists,  with  some  blood- 
shed, through  the  gates  of  the  city.  Cinna  endeavoured  to 
make  head  against  his  colleague,  and  invited  the  slaves, 
under  a  promise  of  liberty,  to  his  standard.  But  finding  it 
impossible  within  the  city,  now  occupied  by  his  oppon- 
ents, to  withstand  their  force,  he  withdrew  to  the  country 
towns,  and  solicited  supplies  from  thence.  He  passed 
through  Tibur  and  Praeneste  to  Nola,  and  openly  implored 
the  inhabitants  to  aid  him  against  their  common  enemies, 
His  solicitations  at  any  other  time  might  perhaps  have  been 
fruitless ;  but  now,  to  the  misfortune  of  the  republic,  a 
number  of  armies  were  still  kept  on  foot  in  Italy,  to  finish 
the  remains  of  the  social  war.  Cn.  Strabo  commanded  one 
army  in  Umbria,  Metellus  another  on  the  confines  of  Luca- 
nia  and  Samnium,  and  Appius  Claudius  a  third  in  Campa- 
nia. As  these  armies  consisted  chiefly  of  indigent  citizens 
become  soldiers  of  fortune,  besides  suffering  a  diminution 
of  their  numbers  from  desertions  to  the  factious  consul,  they 
lost  the  troops  under  the  command  of  Claudius  who  went 
over  to  Mm  in  a  body. 

Meantime  the  senate,  without  entering  into  any  parti- 
cular discussion  of  the  guilt  which  Cinna  had  incurred  in 
the  late  tumult  at  Rome,  found  that,  by  having  deserted 
his  station,  he  had  actually  divested  himself  of  his  office  as 
consul,  and  they  obtained  the  election  of  L.  Cornelius 
Merula  in  his  place. 

Marius,  being  informed  that  one  of  the  armies  in  Italy, 
with  a  Roman  consul  at  its  head,  was  prepared  to  support 
him,  made  haste  from  his  exile  in  Africa :  he  landed  in 
Tuscany,  and  implored  the  protection  of  the  country  towns, 
in  whose  cause  he  too  pretended  to  have  suffered,  and 
whose  interests  were  now  embarked  on  the  same  bottom 
with  his  own.  He  had  many  partisans  among  those  who 
had  composed  the  legions  which  formerly  served  under 
his  orders.  He  had  reputation  and  authority,  and  soon 
assembled  a  considerable  force,  with  which,  in  concert 
with  Cinna,  Sertorius,  and  Carbo,  he  advanced  towards 
Rome. 


CH.  VU.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  213 

They  invested  the  city  in  three  separate  divisions.  China 
and  Carbo  lay  before  it,  Sertorius  took  post  on  the  river 
nbove,  and  Marius  below  it.  The  last,  to  prevent  supplies 
from  the  sea,  made  himself  master  of  the  port  of  Ostia;  the 
first  had  sent  a  detachment  to  Ariminum,  to  prevent  any 
relief  from  the  side  of  Gaul. 

In  this  extremity  the  senate  applied  to  Metellus,  request 
ing-  that  he  would  make  any  accommodation  with  the 
Italian  allies,  and  hasten  to  the  relief  of  the  city.  The  delays 
which  he  made  in  the  execution  of  these  orders  enabled 
Cinna  and  Marius  to  prevent  him  in  gaining-  the  allies.  The 
inhabitants  of  Italy  at  this  time  had  it  in  their  option  to 
accept  the  privileges  they  claimed  from  either  party  ;  and, 
having-  chosen  to  join  themselves  with  the  popular  faction, 
they  threw  their  weight  into  that  scale. 

Metellus,  however,  advanced  into  Latium ;  anil,  being 
joined  by  the  consul  Octavius,  took  post  on  the  Alban  hill. 
Here  they  found  that  their  troops,  being  inclined  to  favour 
their  enemies,  deserted  apace.  Metellus,  on  being  reduced 
to  a  few  attendants,  despaired  of  the  cause,  and  withdrew 
into  Africa.  Octavius  returned  to  his  station  in  the  city. 

The  army  lately  commanded  by  Pompeius  Strabo,  was 
now  deprived  of  its  general ;  he  having  been  killed  by 
lightning  in  his  camp  ;  and  the  senate  was  not  inclined  to 
repose  any  confidence  in  his  men.  He  himself  had  some 
time  hesitated  between  the  parties  ;  and  the  troops,  at  his 
death,  were  prepared  to  choose  the  side  which  was  most 
likely  to  favour  their  interest.  With  so  uncertain  a  pros- 
pect of  support,  the  senate  thought  it  safer  to  onter  into  a 
treaty  with  Cinna  and  Marius,  than  to  remain  exposed  to 
the  necessity  of  being  obliged  to  admit  them  by  force.  They 
ottered  to  reinstate  Cinna  in  the  office  of  consul,  and  to 
restore  Marius,  with  the  other  exiles,  to  their  condition  of 
Roman  citizens ;  only  stipulating  that  they  would  spare 
the  blood  of  their  opponents,  or  proceed  against  them 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth.  While  this 
treaty  was  in  dependence,  Marius,  affecting  the  modesty  of 
a  person  whom  the  law,  according  to  his  late  sentence  of 
banishment)  had  disqualified  to  take  any  part  among  citi- 
zens, observed  a  sullen  and  obstinate  silence.  Even  when 
the  treaty  was  concluded,  and  the  gates  were  laid  open  to 
himself  and  his  followers,  he  refused  to  enter  until  the  at- 
tainder under  which  he  lay  should  be  taken  oil',  and  until 
he  was  replaced  in  his  condition  as  a  Roman.  The  people 
were  accordingly  assembled  to  repeal  their  former  decree. 
But  Marius,  proposing  to  take  his  enemies  by  surprise,  did 
not  wait  for  the  completion  of  the  ceremony.  While  the 


216  HISTORY  OF  THE  H$.  11. 

ballots  were  collecting,  he  entered  the  city  with  a  band  of 
armed  men,  whom  he  employed  in  taking  vengeance  on  all 
those  who  had  concurred  in  the  late  measures  against  him. 
The  gates,  by  his  orders,  were  secured,  but  most  of  the 
senators  escaped.  Sylla's  house  was  demolished,  many  who 
were  reputed  his  friends  were  slain,  others  assisted  his 
wife  and  his  children  in  making  their  escape.  Among  the 
signals  by  which  Marius  directed  the  execution  of  particu- 
lar persons,  it  was  understood  that  if  he  did  not  return  a 
salute  which  was  offered  him,  this  was  to  be  considered  as 
a  warrant  for  immediate  death.  In  compliance  with  these 
instructions,  some  citizens  of  note  were  laid  dead  at  his 
feet.  And  as  the  meanest  retainers  of  his  party  had  their 
resentments  as  well  as  himself,  and  took  this  opportunity 
to  indulge  their  passions,  the  city  resembled  a  place  that 
was  taken  by  storm,  and  every  quarter  resounded  with  the 
cries  of  robbery,  murders,  and  rapes.  This  horrid  scene 
continued  without  intermission  five  days  and  five  nights. 

Cinna  himself  became  weary  of  the  murders  which  were 
committed  to  gratify  the  avarice  of  mean  and  lu-edy  adven- 
turers, or  the  rancour  even  of  fugitive  slaves  against  the 
masters  they  had  deserted  ;  he  wished  to  terminate  so  hor- 
rid a  scene,  but  it  seems  could  not  stop  it  otherwise  than  by 
the  death  of  those  who  were  employed  in  it.  He  caused 
great  numbers  of  them  accordingly  to  be  surrounded  and 
put  to  the  sword.  He  proposed,  in  concert  with  Marius, 
to  give  some  form  or  title  to  their  government,  by  assum- 
ing the  consulate :  and  although  there  is  no  doubt  that 
they  could  have  easily  obtained  the  sanction  of  an  ordinary 
election,  yet  they  chose  to  usurp  the  ensigns  and  powers 
of  consul  without  any  such  pretence.  Marius  indulged  in 
the  excessive  use  of  wine,  contracted  a  pleurisy,  and  died 
on  the  seventh  day  of  his  illness,  in  the  seventeenth  day  of 
his  last  or  seventh  consulate,  and  in  the  seventieth  year  of 
his  age ;  leaving  the  tools  he  had  employed  in  subverting 
the  government  of  his  country,  to  pay  the  forfeit  of  lus 
crimes. 

Upon  the  death  of  Marius,  the  government  still  continued 
to  be  usurped  by  Cinna.  Many  of  the  senators,  and  other 
citizens,  obnoxious  to  the  prevailing  party,  took  refuge 
with  Sylla.  This  general  himself  was  declared  a  public 
enemy ;  his  effects  were  seized ;  his  children,  with  their 
mother,  having  narrowly  escaped  the  pursuit  of  his  enemies, 
fled  to  the  father  in  Greece. 

Upon  this  occasion  Sylla  did  not  change  his  conduct  in 
the  war,  nor  make  any  concessions  to  the  enemies  of  th? 
gtate.  He  talked  familiarly  every  day  of  his  intention  tr 


Ctt.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  217 

punish  his  enemies  at  Rome,  and  to  avenge  the  blood  of  hit 
friends,  but  not  till  he  had  forced  Mithridates  to  make  re- 
paration for  the  wrongs  he  had  done  to  the  Romans  and  to 
their  allies  in  Asia. 

Alarmed  by  these  threats,  Cinna  took  measures  to 
strengthen  his  party  ;  assumed,  upon  the  death  of  Mariu?, 
Valerius  Flaccus  as  his  colleague  in  the  office  of  consul ; 
and,  having  assigned  him  the  command  in  Asia,  with  two 
additional  legions,  trusted  that  with  this  force  he  might 
obtain  possession  of  the  province. 

But  Flaccus,  upon  his  arrival  in  Thessaly,  was  deserted 
by  part  of  the  army,  which  went  over  to  Sylla ;  and  passing 
through  Macedonia  in  his  route  to  Asia  with  the  remainder, 
a  dispute  arose  between  himself  and  his  lieutenant  Fimbria, 
which  ended  in  the  murder  of  the  consul  Flaccus,  and  in 
the  succession  of  Fimbria  to  the  command.  So  little  defer- 
ence or  respect  did  citizens  pay,  in  the  disorder  of  those 
unhappy  times,  even  to  the  government  they  professed  to 
serve. 

Fimbria,  with  the  troops  he  had  seduced  to  his  standard, 
after  he  had  assassinated  tWir  general,  made  a  rapid  pro- 
gress in  Asia,  and  hastened,  as  has  been  observed,  the  reso- 
lution to  which  Mithridates  was  come,  of  applying  for 
peace.  To  this  crafty  prince,  urged  by  the  necessity  of  his 
own  affairs,  the  conjuncture  appeared  to  be  favourable,  when 
so  much  distraction  took  place  in  the  councils  of  Rome.  He 
had  experienced  the  abilities  of  Sylla  ;  he  knew  his  eager 
jesire  to  be  gone  for  Italy,  and  to  be  revenged  of  his  ene- 
mies ;  and  he  expected  to  gain  him  by  proffering  assistance 
in  the  war  he  was  about  to  wage  with  the  opposite  party 
at  Rome. 

Upon  a  message  from  Archelaus,  Sylla  readily  agreed  to 
an  interview  in  the  island  of  Delos,  where  a  treaty  of 
peace  was  framed,  by  which  the  fleet  of  Mithridates  with  a 
sum  of  two  thousand  talents,*  was  to  be  given  to  the 
Romans,  and  the  frontiers  of  Pontus  to  constitute  the 
boundaries  of  that  kingdom. 

Sylla  meantime  continued  his  operations,  and  sent  Lu- 
cullus  round  the  maritime  powers  of  the  east  to  assemble  a 
fleet ;  while  after  having  made  some  incursions  into  Thrace, 
to  gratify  his  army  with  the  spoil  of  nations  who  had  often 
plundered  the  Roman  province,  he  continued  his  route  to 
the  Hellespont. 

Being  arrived  at  the  Hellespont,  he  was  joined  by  Lucul- 
lus  with  a  fleet  which  enabled  him  to  pass  that  strait.  Her* 

•  About  «86,000f. 


218  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I\. 

he  was  met  by  a  message  from  Mithridates,  desiring-  a  per- 
sonal interview ;  which  was  accordingly  held  in  the  pres- 
ence of  both  armies,  and  at  which  the  king  of  Pontus,  after 
some  expostulations,  agreed  to  all  the  conditions  already 
mentioned. 

Sylla,  having  brought  the  Mithridatic  war  to  an  issue  so 
honourable  for  himself,  prepared  to  take  vengeance  on  his 
enemies,  and  those  of  the  republic,  in  Italy.  He  proceeded, 
however,  with  great  deliberation  and  caution;  and,  as  il 
the  state  at  Rome  were  in  perfect  tranquillity,  staid  to  re- 
duce the  army  of  Fimbrla,  to  resettle  the  Roman  province, 
and  to  effect  the  restoration  of  tne  allies,  Nicomedes  and 
Ariobarzanes,  to  their  several  kingdoms  of  Cappadocia  and 
Bithynia. 

Fimbria  being  required  by  Sylla  to  resign  a  command 
which  he  had  illegally  usurped,  retorted  the  charge  of  usur- 
pation, and  treated  Sylla  himself  as  an  outlaw :  but  upon 
the  approach  of  this  general,  being  deserted  by  his  army, 
he  fled  to  Pergamus,  and  there  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  the 
hands  of  a  slave,  of  whom  he  exacted  this  service.  To  pun- 
ish the  province  of  Asia  for  its  defection  to  Mithridates, 
Sylla  obliged  the  inhabitants  to  pay  down  a  sum  equal  to 
five  years'  ordinary  tax.  He  sent  Curio  to  replace  on  their 
thrones  the  kings  of  Cappadocia  and  Bithynia,  who  had 
persevered  in  their  alliance  with  Rome,  and  sent  an  ac- 
count of  these  particulars  to  the  senate,  without  taking  any 
notice  of  the  edict  by  which  he  himself  had  been  stripped  of 
his  command,  and  declared  an  enemy.  Before  he  set  sail, 
however,  for  Italy,  he  thought  proper  to  transmit  to  Rome 
a  memorial,  setting  forth  his  services  and  his  wrongs,  as 
well  as  the  injury  done  to  many  senators  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  his  camp,  and  concluding  with  menaces  of  justice 
against  his  own  enemies  and  those  of  the  republic,  but 
•ssuring  the  citizens  in  general  of  protection  and  security. 
This  paper  being  read  in  the  senate,  struck  many  of  the 
members  with  dreadful  apprehensions;  expedients  were 
proposed  to  reconcile  the  parties,  and  to  avert  the  evils 
which  the  republic  must  suffer  from  their  repeated  conten- 
tions. A  message  was  sent  to  pacify  Sylla,  and  earnest 
entreaties  were  made  to  Cinna,  that  he  would  suspend  his 
levies  until  an  answer  could  be  obtained  from  the  other.* 
But  Cinna,  in  contempt  of  these  pacific  intentions,  took 
measures  to  prosecute  the  war;  divided  the  fasces  with 
Cn.  Papirius  Carbo,  whom,  without  any  form  of  election, 
lie  assumed  for  his  colleague  in  the  consulate ;  and  in  the 

*  U.  C.  669. 


Cm.  VII.]  ROMAN   KI51'U15L,IU  Zl* 

partition  of  provinces,  retained  for  himself  the  administra- 
tion in  Italy,  while  he  assigned  to  Carbo  the  command  in 
the  neighbouring  Gaul. 

Cinna,  having  mustered  a  considerable  force,  intended  to 
make  head  against  Sylla  in  Thessaly,  through  which  ho 
was  expected  to  pass  in  his  way  to  Italy,  and  determined  to 
transport  his  army  thither.  But  the  troops  being  averse  to 
embark,  he  himself,  endeavouring  to  force  them,  was  killed 
in  a  mutiny.  A  general  disorder  and  anarchy  infected  the 
whole  party.  The  election  of  a  successor  to  Cinna  \\-\\i 
twice  interrupted  by  supposed  unfavourable  presages,  and 
Carbo  remained  sole  consul. 

At  this  time  an  answer  arrived  from  Sylla  to  the  propo 
sals,  made  by  the  senate  towards  a  reconciliation  of  parties ; 
in  which  he  declared,  "That  he  never  could  return  into 
friendship  with  persons  guilty  of  so  many  and  such  enor- 
mous crimes.  If  the  Roman  people,  however,  were  pleased 
to  grant  an  indemnity,  he  should  not  interpose,  but  would 
venture  to  affirm,  that  such  of  the  citizens  as  chose,  in  the 
present  disorders,  to  take  refuge  in  his  camp,  would  find 
themselves  safer  than  in  that  of  his  enemies."  He  had 
embarked  his  army  at  Ephesus,  and  reached  the  Pyraus, 
the  port  of  Athens,  where  he  was  taken  ill  of  the  gout,  and 
detained.  His  fleet,  in  the  mean  time,  consisting  of  twelve 
hundred  ships,  coasted  round  the  Peloponnesus,  and  took 
*m  board  the  army  which  had  marched  by  Thessaly  to 
Dyrrachium, 

He  had,  according  to  Appian,  five  Roman  legions,  with 
«ix  thousand  Italian  horse,  and  considerable  levies  from 
Macedonia  and  Greece,  amounting  in  all  to  about  sixty 
thousand  men.  With  this  force  he  landed  in  Italy,  in  the 
face  of  many  different  armies,  each  of  them  equal  or  supe- 
rior in  number  to  his  own.  The  opposite  party  were 
supposed  to  have  on  foot,  at  different  stations,  above  two 
hundred  thousand  men. 

L.  Cornelius  Scipio  and  C.  Junius  Norbanus,  who  were 
its  leaders,  being  in  possession  of  the  capital  and  of  the 
place  of  election,  were  named  for  consuls.*  Norbanus,  in 
name  of  the  republic,  commanded  a  great  army  in  Apulia ; 
Scipio,  another  on  the  confines  of  Campania.  Sertorius, 
young  Marius,  with  Carbo,  in  the  quality  of  proconsul,  and 
others  (as  Plutarch  quotes  from  the  memoirs  of  Sylla)  to 
the  number  of  fifteen  commanders,  had  each  their  armies, 
amounting  in  all  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  cohorts ;  of 
these  different  bodies  none  attempted  to  dispute  the  land- 

•  U.  C.  670. 


220  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  11. 

ing  of  Sylla,  nor,  for  some  days,  to  interrupt  his  march.  He 
accordingly  continued  to  advance  as  in  a  friendly  country, 
and  in  the  midst  of  profound  peace.  The  inhabitants  of 
Italy,  considering  the  Roman  nobility,  in  whose  cause  Sylla 
appeared,  as  averse  to  the  claim  they  had  made  of  being 
promiscuously  enrolled  in  the  tribes  of  Rome,  wore  likely 
to  oppose  him,  and  to  favour  the  faction  which  had  for  som_ 
time  prevailed  in  the  state.  To  allay  their  animosity,  or  to 
prevent  their  taking  an  active  part  against  him,  Sylla 
summoned  the  leading  men  of  the  country  towns  as  he 
passed,  and  gave  them  assurances  that  he  would  confirm 
the  grants  which  had  been  made  to  them,  if  they  did  not  , 
forfeit  these  and  every  other  title  to  favour,  by  abetting  the 
faction  which  had  subverted  the  government. 

On  his  march  he  was  joined  by  Metellus  Pius,  who,  as 
has  been  observed,  after  a  fruitless  attempt,  in  conjunction 
with  the  consul  Octavius,  to  cover  Rome  from  the  attack 
of  Marius  and  Cinna,  had  withdrawn  to  Africa. 

Sylla  was  likewise,  about  the  same  time,  joined  by 
Cneius  Pompeius,  son  to  the  late  consul  Pompeius  Strabo, 
who,  though  too  young  for  any  public  character,  had 
assembled  a  considerable  body  of  men,  to  make  himself  of 
consequence  in  the  present  contest.  Being  now  only  about 
nineteen  years  of  age,  he  was  remarked  for  engaging  man- 
ners, and  a  manly  aspect,  which  procured  him  a  general 
favour  and  an  uncommon  degree  of  respect. 

Numbers  of  the  senate  and  nobles,  who  had  hitherto 
remained  exposed  at  Rome  to  the  insults  of  their  enemies, 
now  repaired  to  the  camp  of  Sylla.  The  consul  Norbanus, 
being  joined  by  young  Marius,  lay  at  Canusium.  Sylla, 
while  he  was  preparing  to  attack  them,  sent  an  officer  with 
overtures  of  peace  ;  these  they  rejected  with  marks  of 
contempt.  This  circumstance  had  an  effect  which  Sylla 
perhaps  foresaw  and  intended.  It  roused  the  indignation 
of  his  army,  and,  in  the  action  which  followed,  had  some 
effect  in  obtaining  a  victory  in  which  six  thousand  of  the 
^neniy  were  killed,  with  the  loss  of  only  seventy  men  to 
himself. 

Norbanus,  after  this  defeat,  retreated  to  Capua ;  and, 
boing  covered  by  the  walls  of  that  place,  waited  the  arrival 
of  Scipio,  who  intended  to  join  him  with  the  army  under 
Ids  command.  Sylla  marched  to  Tianum  to  prevent  their 
junction  ;  and  on  the  approach  of  Scipio,  proposed  to  nego- 
tiate. The  leaders,  with  a  few  attendants,  met  between 
the  two  armies,  and  were  nearly  agreed  upon  terms  of 
peace  ;  but  Scipio  delayed  his  final  consent  until  he  should 
consult  with  Norbauus  at  Caoua.  Meantime  the  soldiers 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  V.:l\ 

of  Sylla's  army,  boasting-  of  the  wealth  which  they  had 
acquired  under  their  general,  infected  his  enemies,  and 
seduced  them  to  desert  their  leader.  Scipio  was  left  almost 
alone  in  his  camp;  and  Sylla,  receiving  the  troops  who 
deserted  to  him,  with  the  accession  of  strength  he  had 
acquired  by  the  junction  of  this  army,  continued  his  march 
towards  Rome.  Norbanus  at  the  same  time  evacuated 
Capua,  and,  by  forced  marches  in  a  different  route,  en- 
deavoured to  prevent  him. 

About  this  time,  Sertorius,  who,  before  the  war  broke 
out,  had,  in  the  distribution  of  provinces,  been  appointed 
propretor  of  Spain,  despairing  of  affairs  in  Italy,  in  which 
probably  he  was  not  sufficiently  consulted,  repaired  to  his 
province,  and  determined  to  try  what  the  genius  of  a  Roman 
leader  could  effect  at  the  head  of  the  warlike  natives  of 
that  country. 

The  chiefs  of  the  Marian  party,  who  remained  in  Italy, 
made  efforts  to  collect  all  the  forces  they  could  at  Rome. 
Norbanus,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  city,  procured  an 
edict  of  the  people,  by  which  Metellu?,  and  the  others  who 
had  joined  Sylla.  wore  declared  enemies  to  their  country. 
About  the  same  timo  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  capitol,  and 
the  buildings  were  burned  to  the  ground. 

The  remainder  of  the  season  was  spent  by  both  parties 
in  collecting  their  forces  from  every  quarter  of  Italy  ;  and 
the  term  of  the  consuls  in  office  being  nearly  expired,  Carbo 
procured  his  own  nomination  to  succeed  them,  and  inscribed 
the  name  of  Man  us,  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age,  as  his 
colleague.  This  young  man  is  by  some  said  to  have  been 
the  nephew,  by  others  the  adopted  son,  of  the  late  cele- 
brated C.  Marius,  whose  name  had  so  long  been  terrible  to  the 
enemies,  and  at  length  not  less  so  to  the  friends,  of  Rome.* 

At  this  time  the  senate  consented  to  have  the  plate  and 
ornaments  of  the  temples  coined  for  the  pay  of  the  supposed 
consular  armies.  They  were,  however,  notwithstanding 
this  act  of  obsequiousness,  believed  to  incb'ne  to  the  op- 
posite party. 

The  military  operations  of  the  following  spring  began 
with  an  obstinate  fight  between  two  considerable  armies 
commanded  by  Metellus  and  Carinas.  The  latter  being  de- 
feated with  great  loss,  Carbo  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action, 
in  order  to  cover  the  remains  of  the  vanquished  army. 

In  the  mean  time  Sylla,  being  encamped  at  Setia,  and 
having  intelligence,  that  the  young  Marius  was  advancing 
•gainst  him,  put  his  army  in  motion  to  meet  him,  forced 

*  r.  <•  (7i. 
T 


222  HISTORY  OF  THE  Lu.  n. 

him  back  to  Sacriportum,  near  Proeneste,  where  an  action 
soon  after  ensued,  in  which  Marius  was  defeated.  The 
routed  army  fled  in  disorder  to  Praeneste :  the  first  who 
arrived  were  received  into  the  place  ;  but  as  it  was  appre- 
hended the  enemy  might  likewise  enter  in  the  tumult, 
the  gates  were  shut,  and  many,  being  excluded,  were 
slaughtered  under  the  ramparts. 

In  consequence  of  this  victory  Sylla  invested  Praeneste  ; 
and  as  great  numbers  were  thus  suddenly  cooped  up  in  a 
town,  which  was  not  prepared  to  subsist  them,  he  had  an 
immediate  prospect  of  seeing  them  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  surrendering  at  discretion.  Committing  the  charge  of 
the  blockade  to  Lucretius  Offella,  he  himself,  with  part  of 
the  army,  proceeded  to  Rome.  Metellus,  in  a  second  action, 
had  defeated  the  army  of  Carbo,  and  Pompey  that  of  Marios 
near  Sena ;  and  the  party  of  Sylla  being  victorious  in  every 
part  of  Italy,  the  city  was  prepared  to  receive  him  as  soon 
as  he  appeared  at  the  gates.  The  partisans  of  the  opposite 
faction  deemed  it  prudent  to  withdraw,  and  left  the  capi- 
tal to  the  enemy.  Sylla  immediately  entered  the  city, 
and  gratified  his  array  with  the  spoils  of  the  opposite  party, 
declaring  the  effects  of  all  those  to  be  forfeited  who  had  been 
accessary  to  the  crimes  lately  committed  against  the  state. 
After  this  first  specimen  of  his  policy  in  the  city,  leaving 
a  sufficient  force  to  execute  his  orders,  he  hastened  to 
Clusium,  where  Carbo,  being  joined  by  a  considerable  rein- 
forcement from  Spain,  was  preparing  to  recover  the  me- 
tropolis, or  to  relieve  his  colleague  Marius,  who  was  re- 
duced to  great  distress  in  Praeneste. 

The  events  which  followed  the  arrival  and  operations  of 
Sylla  in  Tuscany  were  various,  but  for  the  most  part  un- 
favourable to  Carbo,  whose  force,  by  desertions  and  the 
sword  was  declining  apace.  The  issue  of  the  war  seemed 
to  depend  on  the  fate  of  Praeneste,  and  the  whole  force  of 
the  party  was  therefore  directed  to  the  relief  of  that  place, 
f  he  Lucanians  and  Samnites,  who  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  Marius,  and  who,  by  his  favour,  had  obtained  the  free- 
dom of  Rome,  apprehending  immediate  ruin  to  themselves, 
in  the  suppression  of  a  party  by  whom  they  had  been  pro- 
jected, determined  to  make  one  great  effort  for  the  relief 
of  Marius. 

They  were  joined  in  Latium  by  a  large  detachment  sent 
by  Carbo,  under  Carinas  and  Marcius,  and  made  an  attempt 
to  force  the  lines  of  the  besiegers  at  Praeneste,  and  to  open 
the  blockade  of  that  place.  But  having  failed  in  this  design, 
they  turned,  with  desperation,  on  the  city  of  Rome,  which 
was  but  slightly  eruarded  by  a  small  detachment  which  had 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  223 

been  left  for  that  purpose.  Sylla  being-  informed  of  their 
intention,  with  hasty  marches  advanced  to  the  city,  and 
found  the  enemy  already  in  possession  of  the  suburbs,  and 
preparing  to  force  the  gates.  It  was  about  four  in  tliu 
afternoon  when  he  arrived,  after  a  long  march.  Proposing, 
by  his  unexpected  presence,  and  by  coming  to  action  at  .in 
unusual  hour,  to  surprise  the  enemy,  he  gave  orders  for  an 
immediate  attack.  The  event  for  some  time  was  doubtful ; 
the  wing  that  was  led  by  himself  gave  way,  or  was  forced 
from  its  ground ;  but  the  other  wing  under  Crassus  had  ;i 
better  fortune,  put  the  enemy  to  flight,  and  drove  them  t« 
Antemnae. 

The  action,  though  thus  various  in  the  different  parts 
of  it,  became,  in  the  event,  completely  decisive.  Eighty 
thousand  of  the  Marian  party  were  killed  in  their  flight,  and 
eight  thousand  taken.  Car  bo,  in  despair  of  the  cause,  fled 
into  Sicily.  The  troops  that  were  blocked  up  in  Praeneste, 
having  no  longer  any  hopes  of  relief,  surrendered  themselves, 
and  the  whole  party  was  dispersed  or  cut  off.  Marius  at- 
tempted to  escape  by  the  galleries  of  a  mine,  and  being  pre- 
vented, killed  himself.  His  head  was  carried  to  Sylla,  and 
by  his  order  exposed  in  the  market-place. 

Sylla  being  now  master  of  the  republic,  all  men  were  in 
anxious  expectation  of  the  sequel ;  nor  was  it  long  before 
they  had  a  specimen  of  the  measures  he  was  likely  to  pur- 
sue. About  six  or  eight  thousand  of  those  who  were 
supposed  to  be  the  vilest  instruments  of  the  late  usurpations 
and  murders,  being  taken  prisoners  in  the  war,  or  surprised 
in  the  city,  were,  by  his  direction,  shut  up  in  the  circub, 
and  instantly  put  to  death. 

While  this  horrid  scene  was  acting,  he  had  assembled  the 
senate,  at  a  little  distance,  in  the  temple  of  Bellona ;  and  as 
most  of  the  members  then  present  had  either  favoured,  or 
at  least  tamely  submitted  to  the  late  usurpation,  he  mado 
them  a  speech  on  the  state  of  the  republic,  in  which  he  re- 
proached many  of  them  as  accessary  to  the  late  disorders, 
and  admonished  them,  for  tho  future,  to  respect  the  legal 
government  and  constitution  of  their  country.  In  the 
midst  of  these  admonitions,  the  cries  of  those  who  were 
slaughtered  in  the  circus,  reaching  their  ears,  the  assembly 
was  greatly  alarmed,  and  many  of  the  members  start »-,! 
from  their  seats.  Sylla,  with  a  countenance  stern,  but  un- 
disturbed, checked  them  as  for  an  instance  of  levity.  I' mm 
this  interruption  he  resumed  his  subject,  and  continued 
speaking  till  the  massacre  of  these  unhappy  victims  w.i* 
completed. 

In  an  harangue  which  he  afterwards  delivered  to  tho 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  1L 

people,  he  spoke  of  his  o\vn  services  to  the  republic,  and  of 
the  misdemeanour  of  others,  in  terms  that  struck  all  who 
heard  him  with  terror.  "  The  republic,"  he  said,  "  if  hia 
opinion  were  followed,  should  be  purged ;  but  whether  it 
were  so  or  no,  the  injuries  done  to  himself  and  his  friends 
should  be  punished."  He  accordingly  ordered  military  ex- 
ecution against  every  person  who  had  been  accessary  to 
the  late  massacres  and  usurpations ;  and  while  the  sword 
was  yet  reeking  in  his  hands,  passed  great  part  of  his  time, 
as  usual,  in  mirth  and  dissipation  with  men  of  humorous 
and  singular  characters. 

While  these  dreadful  murders,  mixed  with  many  ex- 
amples of  a  just  execution,  were  perpetrated,  a  young  man, 
C.  Metellus,  had  the  courage  to  address  himself  to  Sylla  in 
the  senate,  and  desired  he  Avould  make  known  the  extent 
of  his  design,  and  how  far  these  executions  were  to  be  car- 
ried? Sylla,  without  being  offended  at  this  freedom, 
published  a  list  of  those  he  had  doomed  to  destruction, 
offering  a  reward  of  two  talents  for  the  head  of  each,  and 
denouncing  severe  penalties  against  every  person  who. 
should  harbour  or  conceal  them.  Hence  arose  the  practice 
of  publishing  lists  of  the  persons  to  be  massacred,  which, 
under  the  odious  name  of  proscription,  was  afterwards 
imitated  Avith  such  fatal  effects  in  the  subsequent  convul- 
sions of  the  state. 

The  present  proscription,  although  it  promised  some 
security  to  all  who  were  not  comprehended  in  the  fatal  list, 
opened  a  scene,  in  some  respects,  more  dreadful  than  that 
which  had  been  formerly  acted  in  this  massacre.  The 
hands  of  servants  were  hired  against  their  masters,  and 
even  those  of  children  against  their  parents.  The  mer- 
cenary of  every  denomination  was  encouraged,  by  a  great 
premium,  to  commit  what  before  only  the  ministers  of  pub- 
lic justice  thought  themselves  entitled  to  perform  ;  and 
there  followed  a  scene,  in  which  human  nature  had  full 
scope  to  exert  all  the  evil  of  which  it  is  susceptible, 
treachery,  ingratitude,  distrust,  malice,  and  revenge. 

In  consequence  of  these  measures,  about  five  thousand 
persons  of  consideration  were  put  to  death,  among  whom 
were  reckoned  forty  senators,  and  sixteen  hundred  of  the 
equestrian  order. 

In  comparing  the  present  with  the  late  usurpations,  men 
recollected,  that  Marius,  from  his  infancy,  had  been  of  a 
severe  and  inexorable  temper ;  that  his  resentments  were 
sanguinary,  and  even  his  frowns  w«re  deadly ;  but  that  hig 
cruelties,  were  the  effect  of  real  passions,  and  had  the  apo- 
lo<rv  of  not  beinsr  perpetrated  in  rold  blood ;  that  every 


CH.  VII.";  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  225 

person  on  whom  he  looked  with  indifference  was  safe ;  and 
that  even  when  he  usurped  the  government  of  the  state,  as 
soon  as  his  personal  resentments  were  gratified,  the  sword 
in  his  hand  became  an  innocent  pageant,  and  the  mere  en- 
sign or  badge  of  his  power.  But  that  Sylla  directed  a  mas- 
sacre in  the  midst  of  composure  and  ease :  that  as  a  private 
man  he  had  been  affable  and  pleasant,  even  noted  for 
humanity  a*id  candour;  that  the  change  of  his  temper 
Ii-.iving  commenced  with  his  exaltation,  there  wore  no 
hopes  that  the  shedding  of  blood  could  be  stopped  while  ho 
was  suffered  to  retain  his  power.  His  daring  spirit,  his  ad 
dross,  his  cunning,  and  his  ascendant  over  the  minds  of 
men,  rendered  the  prospect  of  a  deliverance,  if  not  desperate, 
extremely  remote. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  affairs,  and  the  grounds  of  terror 
conceived  even  by  those  who  were  innocent  of  the  late 
disorders ;  but  to  those  who  had  reason  to  fear  the  resent- 
ment of  the  victor,  the  prospect  was  altogether  desperate. 
Norbanus,  having  fled  to  Rhodes,  received  at  that  place  an 
account  of  the  proscriptions,  and,  to  avoid  being  delivered 
up,  killed  himself.  Carbo,  being  in  Sicily,  endeavoured  to 
make  his  escape  from  thence,  but  was  apprehended  by 
Pompey,  and  killed.  All  the  ordinary  offices  of  state  were 
vacated  by  the  desertion  or  death  of  those  who  had  filled  or 
usurped  them. 

Sylla  had  hitherto  acted  as  master,  without  any  other 
title  than  that  of  the  sword;  and  it  was  now  thought 
necessary  to  supply  the  defect.  He  retired  from  the  city, 
that  the  senate  might  assemble  with  the  more  appearance 
of  freedom.  To  name  an  interrex  was  the  usual  expedient 
for  restoring  the  constitution ;  and  proceeding  to  elections 
in  a  legal  form  after  the  usual  time  had  elapsed,  or  when 
hy  any  accident  the  ordinary  succession  to  office  had  failed. 
Valerius  Flaccus  was  named.  To  him  Sylla  gave  intima- 
tion, that,  to  resettle  the  commonwealth,  a  dictator,  for  an 
indefinite  term,  should  be  appointed,  and  made  offer  of  his 
own  services  for  this  purpose.  These  intimations  were 
received  as  commands.  Flaccus,  having  assembled  the 
people,  moved  for  an  act  to  vest  Sylla  with  the  title  of  dic- 
tator, which  gave  him  a  discretionary  power  over  the  per- 
sons, fortunes,  and  lives  of  all  the  citizens. 

No  example  of  this  kind  had  taken  place  for  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years  preceding  this  date.  It  was  now  revived 
in  the  person  of  Sylla  with  unusual  solemnity,  and  ratified 
by  an  act  of  the  people,  in  which  they  yielded  up  at  onco 
nil  their  own  claims  to  the  sovereignty,  and  submitted  to 
wwarchy  for  a»  indefinite  time.  Sylla  having  r-wn-'J 


226  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

Valerius  Flaccus  for  his  lieutenant  or  commander  of  the 
horse,  returned  to  the  city,  presenting1  a  sight  that  was 
then  unusual,  a  single  person,  preceded  by  four-and-twenty 
lictors,  armed  with  the  axe  and  the  rods. 

Lucretius  Offella,  the  officer  who  had  commanded  in  the 
reduction  of  Praeneste,  presuming  on  his  favour  with  the 
dictator,  and  on  his  consequence  with  the  army,  offered 
himself  for  the  consulate.  Being  commanded  by  Sylla  to 
desist,  he  still  continued  his  canvass,  and  was,  by  order  of 
the  dictator,  put  to  death,  while  he  solicited  votes  in  the 
streets.  A  tumult  immediately  arose ;  the  centurion,  who 
executed  this  order  against  Offella,  was  seized,  and,  at- 
tended by  a  great  concourse  of  people,  was  carried  before 
the  dictator.  Sylla  heard  the  complaint  with  great  com- 
posure, told  the  multitude  who  crowded  around  him,  that 
Offella  had  been  slain  by  his  orders,  and  that  the  centurion 
must  therefore  be  released. 

Sylla,  soon  after  his  elevation  to  the  station  of  dictator, 
proceeded  to  make  his  arrangements  and  to  new-model  the 
commonwealth.  The  army  appeared  to  have  the  first  or 
preferable  claim  to  his  attention.  *  He  accordingly  proposed 
to  reward  them  by  a  gift  of  all  the  lands  which  had  been 
forfeited  by  the  adherents  of  the  opposite  party.  Spoletum, 
Interamna,  Praeneste,  Fluentia,  Nola,  Sulmo,  Volaterra, 
together  with  the  countries  of  Samnium  and  Lucania, 
were  depopulated  to  make  way  for  the  legions  who  had 
served  under  himself  in  the  reduction  of  his  enemies.  In 
these  new  inhabitants  of  Italy,  whose  prosperity  depended 
on  his  safety,  he  had  a  guard  to  his  person,  and  a  sure  sup- 
port to  his  power.  By  changing  their  condition  from  that 
of  soldiers  to  landholders  and  peasants,  he  dispelled,  at  the 
same  time,  that  dangerous  cloud  of  military  power,  which 
he  himself  or  his  antagonists  had  raised  over  the  common, 
wealth,  and  provided  for  the  permanency  of  any  reforma- 
tions he  was  to  introduce  into  the  civil  establishment.  The 
troops,  from  soldiers  of  fortune,  became  proprietors  of  land, 
and  interested  in  the  preservation  of  peace. 

The  next  act  of  the  dictator  appears  more  entirely  calcu- 
lated for  the  security  of  his  own  person.  A  body  of  ten 
thousand  men,  lately  the  property  of  persons  involved  in 
the  ruin  of  the  vanquished  party,  having  their  freedom  and 
the  right  of  citizens  conferred  on  them,  were  enrolled  pro- 
miscuously in  all  the  tribes. 

So  far  Sylla  seemed  to  intend  the  security  of  his  own 
person,  and  the  stability  of  his  government ;  but  in  all  fcU 

*  U.  C.  072. 


CH.  VII.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


227 


subsequent  institutions,  he  had  a  view  to  restore  the  aristo- 
cracy in  its  legislative  and  judicative  capacity,  to  provide  a 
proper  supply  of  officers  for  conducting-  the  accumulated 
affairs  of  the  commonwealth,  to  furnish  hands  for  every 
department,  and  to  guard  against  the  growing  depravity  of 
the  times,  by  extending  and  securing  the  execution  of  the 
laws.  He  began  with  filling  up  the  rolls  of  the  senate 
which  had  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  war,  and  by  the 
sanguinary  policy  of  the  parties  who  had  prevailed  in 
their  turns.  He  augmented  the  number  of  this  body 
to  five  hundred ;  taking  the  new  members  from  the 
equestrian  order,  but  leaving  the  choice  of  them  to  the 
people. 

The  legislative  power  of  the  senate,  and  the  judicative 
power  of  its  members  were  restored.  The  law  that  wac 
provided  for  the  last  of  these  purposes  enacted,  that  none 
but  senators,  or  those  who  were  entitled  to  give  their 
opinion  in  the  senate,  should  be  put  upon  any  jury  or  list 
of  the  judges.  Sylla  restored  the  ancient  form  of  assembling 
the  people  by  centuries,  and  reduced  the  tribunes  to  their 
defensive  privilege  of  interposing  by  a  negative  against  any 
act  of  oppression ;  and  he  deprived  them  of  their  pretended 
right  to  propose  laws,  or  to  harangue  the  people.  He 
moreover  added,  that  none  but  senators  could  be  elected 
into  the  office  of  tribune ;  and,  to  the  end  that  no  person  of 
a  factious  ambition  might  choose  this  station,  he  procured  it 
to  be  enacted,  that  no  one  who  had  borne  the  office  of  tri- 
bune could  afterwards  be  promoted  into  any  other  rank  of 
the  magistracy. 

With  respect  to  the  offices  of  state,  this  new  founder  of 
the  commonwealth  revived  the  obsolete  law  which  prohi- 
bited the  re-election  of  any  person  into  the  consulate,  till 
nfter  an  interval  of  ten  years  ;  and  enacted,  that  none  could 
be  elected  consul  till  after  he  had  been  questor,  edile,  and 
pretor.  He  augmented  the  number  of  pretors  from  six  to 
eight;  that  of  questors  to  twenty;  and,  to  guard  ai;:ii!)-t 
the  disorders  which  had  recently  afflicted  the  republic,  de- 
clared it  to  be  treason  for  any  Roman  officer,  without  the 
authority  of  the  senate  and  people,  to  go  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  province,  whether  with  or  without  an  army,  to  muko 
war,  or  to  invade  any  foreign  nation  whatever. 

He  repealed  the  law  of  Domitius  relating  to  the  election 
of  priests,  and  restored  to  the  college  the  entire  choice  of 
their  own  members. 

He  made  several  additions  to  the  criminal  law,  by  statutes 
against  subornation,  forgery,  wilful  fire,  poisoning,  rape, 
assault,  extortion,  and  fon-iMv  entering  the  house  of  aciti 


228  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II 

zen;  and  a  statute  making  it  penal  to  be  found  with  deadly 
weapons  of  any  sort. 

These  laws  were  promulgated  at  certain  intervals,  and 
intermixed  with  the  measures  which  were  taken  to  restore 
the  peace  of  the  empire.  In  order  to  finish  the  remains  of 
the  civil  war,  Pompey  had  been  sent  into  Sicily  and  Africa, 
and  C.  Annius  Luscus  into  Spam.  In  this  province,  Ser- 
torius  had  taken  arms  for  the  Marian  faction;  but  being 
attacked  by  the  forces  of  Sylla,  and  ill  supported  at  first  by 
the  Spaniards,  he  fled  into  Africa. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  Sylla  from  Asia,  Murena, 
whom  he  had  left  to  command  in  that  province,  found  a 
pretence  to  renew  the  war  with  Mithridates;  and,  having 
ventured  to  pass  the  Halys,  was  defeated  by  that  prince, 
and  afterwards  arraigned  as  having  infringed  the  late  treaty 
of  peace.  Sylla  listened  to  this  accusation,  disapproved 
the  conduct  of  Murena,  and  caused  him  to  be  superseded  in 
the  province. 

Meantime  Sylla  himself  exliibited  a  splendid  triumph  on 
account  of  his  victories  in  Asia  and  Greece.  The  proces- 
sion lasted  two  days.  On  the  first,  he  deposited  in  the 
treasury  fifteen  thousand  pondo  of  gold,*  and  a  hundred 
and  fifteen  thousand  pondo  of  silver  ;f  on  the  second  day 
thirteen  thousand  pondo  of  gold,:}:  and  seven  thousand  pondo 
of  silver. || 

Upon  the  return  of  the  elections,  Sylla  was  again  chosen 
consul,  together  with  Q.  Caecilius  Metellus.§  The  latter 
was  destined,  at  the  expiration  of  his  office,  to  command 
against  fiertorius  in  Spain.  Sylla  himself  still  retained  the 
dictatorial  power,  and  was  employed  in  promulgating  some 
of  the  acts  of  which  the  chief  have  been  mentioned. 

Pompey  having,  in  the  preceding  year,  by  the  death  of 
Carbo,  and  the  dispersion  of  his  party,  finished  the  remains 
of  the  civil  war  in  Sicily,  was  now  ordered  by  the  senate  to 
transport  his  army  into  Africa.  There  Domitius,  a  leader 
of  the  opposite  faction,  had  erected  his  standard,  assembled 
some  remains  of  the  vanquished  party,  and  received  all  the 
fugitives  who  crowded  for  refuge  to  his  camp.  Pompey 
accordingly  departt-d  from  Sicily,  leaving  the  command  of 
that  island  to  Memmius,  and  embarked  his  army,  consisting 
of  six  legions,  in  two  divisions ;  one  landed  at  Utica,  the 
other  in  the  bay  of  Carthage.  Having  come  to  an  engage- 
ment with  Domitius,  who  had  been  joined  by  Jarbas,  an 
African  prince,  he  obtained  a  complete  victory  over  their 


*  Reckoning  the  pondo  at  ten  ounces,  and  4J.  an  ounce,  this  will 

-(HUM.  i  Ab<     —  *    *"— ••"•"""" 

About  140.000*. 


fcake  about  600.000*.  i  About  i?87,50<W.  J  About  52U.OOOC 

$  U.  C.  67i 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  229 

united  forces,  and  afterwards  penetrated,  without  any  re- 
sistance, into  the  kingdom  of  Numidia,  which  though  depen- 
dant on  the  Romans,  had  not  yet  been  reduced  to  the  form 
of  a  province. 

The  war  being  ended  in  this  quarter,  Sylla  thought 
proper  to  supersede  Pompey  in  the  province,  and  ordered 
liim  to  disband  his  army,  rc-orving  only  one  legion, 
with  which  he  was  to  wait  for  his  successor.  The  troops 
were  greatly  incensed  at  this  order ;  and,  thinking  them- 
selves equally  entitled  to  settlements  with  the  legions  who 
were  lately  provided  for  in  Italy,  refused  to  lay  down 
their  arms.  They  earnestly  entreated  their  general  to 
embark  for  Rome,  where  they  promised  to  make  him  master 
of  the  government.  This  young  man,  with  a  moderation 
which  he  continued  to  support  in  the  height  of  his  ambition, 
withstood  the  temptation,  and  declared  to  the  army,  that,  if 
they  persisted  in  their  purpose,  he  must  certainly  die  by  his 
own  hands ;  that  he  would  not  do  violence  to  the  govern- 
ment of  his  country,  nor  be  the  object  or  pretence  of  a  civil 
war. 

Sylla,  Avon  by  the  behaviour  of  Pompey  on  this  occasion, 
was  inclined  to  dispense  with  his  former  commands,  and 
obtained  a  law  to  authorize  Pompey  to  enter  with  his  army 
into  Italy;  and  when  he  drew  near  the  city,  went  forth 
with  a  numerous  body  of  the  senate  to  receive  him.  On 
this  occasion,  it  is  said,  that,  by  calling  him  the  Great  Pom- 
pey, Sylla  fixed  a  designation  upon  him,  which,  in  the 
Roman  way  of  distinguishing  persons  by  nicknames, 
whether  of  contempt  or  respect,  continued  to  furnish  him 
with  a  title  for  life.  The  times  were  wretched,  when 
armies  stated  themselves  in  the  commonwealth  as  the  par- 
tisans of  their  leader,  and  when  the  leader,  by  not  betray- 
ing his  country,  was  supposed  to  perform  a  great  action. 

Pompey,  upon  this  occasion,  laid  claim  to  a  triumph. 
Sylla  at  first  opposed  it  as  being  contrary  to  the  rule  and 
order  of  the  commonwealth,  which  reserved  this  honour 
for  persons  who  had  attained  to  the  rank  of  consul  or 
pretor ;  but  he  afterwards  complied,  being  struck,  it  is 
said,  with  a  mutinous  saying  of  this  aspiring  young  man, 
bidding  him  recollect,  that  there  were  more  persons  dis- 
posed to  worship  the  rising  than  the  setting  sun. 

Upon  the  return  of  the  elections,  Sylla  was  again  destined 
for  one  of  the  consuls;  but  he  declined  this  piece  of  flat- 
tery, and  directed  the  choice  to  fall  on  P.  Servilius  and 
Appius  Claudius.*  Soon  after  these  magistrates  entered 

*  U.  C.  674. 
U 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  II. 

on  the  discharge  of  their  trust;  the  dictator  appeared,  aa 
usual,  in  the  foru  >>,  attended  by  twenty-four  lictors :  but, 
instead  of  procee  iing  to  any  exercise  of  his  power,  made  a 
formal  resignation  of  it,  dismissed  his  retinue,  and,  having 
declared  to  the  people,  that,  if  any  one  had  any  matter  of 
charge  against  him,  he  was  ready  to  answer  it,  continued  to 
walk  in  the  streets  in  the  character  of  a  private  man,  and 
afterwards  retired  to  his  villa  near  Cumae,  where  he  exer- 
cised himself  in  hunting,*  and  other  country  amusements. 

This  resignation  throws  a  new  light  on  the  character  of 
Sylla,  and  leads  to  a  favourable  construction  of  some  of  the 
most  exceptionable  parts  of  his  conduct.  When,  with  the 
help  of  the  comment  it  affords,  we  look  back  to  the  establish- 
ments he  made  while  in  power,  they  appear  not  to  be  the 
acts  of  a  determined  usurper,  but  to  be  fitted  for  a  republican 
government,  and  for  the  restoration  of  that  order  which  the 
violence  and  corruption  of  the  times  had  suspended. 

That  he  was  actuated  by  a  violent  resentment  of  personal 
wrongs,  cannot  be  questioned;  but  it  is  likewise  evident, 
that  he  felt  on  proper  occasions  for  the  honour  and  preser- 
vation of  his  country,  in  the  noblest  sense  of  these  words. 
In  his  first  attack  of  the  city  with  a  military  force,  his  ac- 
tions showed,  that  he  meant  to  rescue  the  republic  from  the 
usurpations  of  Marius,  not  to  usurp  the  government  him- 
self. When  he  returned  into  Italy  from  the  Mithridatic  war, 
the  state  of  parties  already  engaged  in  hostilities,  and  the 
violence  done  to  the  republic  by  those  who  pretended  to 
govern  it,  will  abundantly  justify  his  having  had  recourse 
to  arms.  For  the  massacre  which  followed,  it  may  be  shock- 
ing to  suppose  that  the  evils  of  human  life  can  require  such 
a  remedy :  but  the  case  was  singular,  exposed  to  disorders 
which  required  violent  remedies,  beyond  what  is  known  in 
the  history  of  mankind,  a  populous  city,  the  capital  of  a 
large  country,  whose  inhabitants  still  pretended  to  act  in  a 
collective  body,  of  whom  every  member  would  be  a  master, 
none  would  be  a  subject,  become  the  joint  sovereigns  of 
many  provinces,  ready  to  spurn  at  all  the  institutions  which 
were  provided  for  the  purposes  of  government  over  them- 
selves, and  at  all  the  principles  of  justice  and  order  which 
were  required  to  regulate  their  government  of  others. 
Where  the  gangrene  spread  in  such  a  body,  it  was  likely  to 
require  the  amputation-knife.  He  was  superior  to  the  re- 
putation even  of  his  own  splendid  actions ;  and,  from  sim- 
plicity or  disdain,  mixed  perhaps  Avith  superstition,  not  from 
affected  modesty,  attributed  his  success  to  the  effects  of  his 

*  Appian.  Bell.  Civil,  lib.  i. 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  V31 

good  fortune  and  to  the  favour  of  the  gods.  While  he  be- 
stowed on  Pompey  the  title  of  Great,  he  himself  was  con- 
tent with  that  of  Fortunate.  He  was  a  man  of  letters,  and 
passed  the  early  part  of  his  life  in  a  mixture  of  dissipation 
and  study.  He  wrote  his  own  memoirs,  or  a  journal  of  his 
life,  often  quoted  by  P/utarcJi,  and  continued  it  to  within  a 
few  days  of  his  death.  A  work  possibly  of  little  elegance, 
and  even  tainted,  as  we  are  told,  with  superstition ;  but 
more  curious  surely  than  m;my  volumes  corrected  by  the 
labours  of  retired  study. 

When  he  was  no  longer  an  object  of  flattery,  his  corpse 
was  carried  in  procession  through  Italy  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. The  fasces,  and  every  other  onsign  of  honour,  were 
restored  to  the  dead.  Above  two  thousand  golden  crowns 
were  fabricated  in  haste,  by  order  of  the  towns  and  pro- 
vinces he  had  protected,  or  of  the  private  persons  he  had 
preserved,  to  testify  their  veneration  for  his  memory.  Ro- 
man matrons,  whom  it  might  be  expected  his  cruelties  would 
have  affected  with  horror,  lost  every  other  sentiment  in 
that  of  admiration,  crowded  to  his  funeral,  and  heaped  the 
pile  with  perfumes.  His  obsequies  were  performed  in  the 
Campus  Martius.  The  tomb  was  marked  by  his  own  dir- 
ections with  the  following  characteristical  inscription: 
"  Here  lies  Sylla,  who  never  was  outdone  in  good  offices  by 
his  friend,  nor  in  acts  of  hostility  by  his  enemy."  His  merit 
or  demerit  in  the  principal  transactions  of  his  life  may  be  vari- 
ously estimated.  His  having  slain  so  many  citizens  in  cold 
blood,  and  without  any  form  of  law,  if  we  imagine  them  to 
have  .been  innocent,  or  if  we  conceive  the  republic  to 
have  been  in  a  state  to  allow  them  a  trial,  must  be  consi- 
dered as  monstrous  or  criminal  in  the  highest  degree  :  but 
if  none  of  these  suppositions  were  just,  if  they  were  guilty 
of  the  greatest  crimes,  and  were  themselves  the  authors  of 
that  lawless  state  to  which  their  country  was  reduced,  his 
having  saved  the  republic  from  the  hands  of  such  ruffians, 
and  purged  it  of  the  vilest  dreg  that  ever  threatened  to 
poison  a  free  state,  may  be  considered  as  meritorious.  To 
satisfy  himself,  who  was  neither  solicitous  of  praise  nor 
dreaded  censure,  tho  strong  impulse  of  his  own  mind 
guided  by  indignation  and  the  sense  of  necessity,  was  pro- 
bably  sufficient. 


TUB 

HISTORY 

OFTHB 

PROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 

OF  THK 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK   III. 

CHAP.  I. 

State  oj  the  Commonwealth—  Characters  of  Persons  who  began  to  appear 
m  the  Times  of  Sylla  -  Faction  of  Lepidus — Sertoriut  harbour*  tht 
Marian  Party  in  Spain— Is  attacked  by  Melellus  and  Pompey—Hit 
Death,  and  final  Suppression  of  the  Party  -  First  appearance  of  C. 
Julius  Ccesar — Tribunes  begin  to  trespass  on  the  Laws  of  Sijtta— 
Progress  of  the  Empire— Preparations  of  Mithridates — War  with  the 
Romans— Irruption  into  Bithynia— Siege  of  Cysicus— Raised— Flight 
qf  Mithridates  —  LucuUus  carries  the  War  into  Pontus—Rout  and  Dis- 
persion of  the  Army  of  Mithridates— His  Flight  into  Armenia— Conduct 
of  LucuUus  in  the  Province  of  Asia. 

THE  public  was  so  much  occupied  with  the  contest  of  Sylla 
and  his  antagonists,  that  little  else  is  recorded  of  the  period 
m  which  it  took  place.  Writers  have  not  given  us  any  dis- 
tinct account  of  the  condition  of  the  city,  or  of  the  number 
of  citizens.  As  the  state  was  divided  into  two  principal 
factions,  the  office  of  censor  was  become  too  important  for 
either  party  to  intrust  it  with  their  opponents,  or  even  in 
neutral  hands.  The  leaders  of  every  faction,  in  their  turn, 
made  up  the  rolls  of  the  people,  and  disposed,  at  their  plea- 
sure, of  the  equestrian  and  senatorian  dignities. 

In  this  period  were  born,  and  began  to  enter  on  the  scene 
of  public  affairs,  those  persons  whose  conduct  was  now  to 
determine  the  fate  of  the  republic.  Pompey  had  already 
distinguished  himself,  and  was  a  person  of  real  consequence. 
He  had  been  educated  in  the  camp  of  his  father,  and,  by 
accident,  at  a  very  early  age ;  and,  before  he  had  attained 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY,  &c.  233 

to  any  of  the  ordinary  civil  or  political  preferments,  com- 
manded an  army.  Cicero,  being  of  the  same  age,  began  to 
be  distinguished  at  the  bar.  He  pleaded,  in  the  second  con- 
sulate of  Sylla,  the  cause  of  lloscius  Amerinus,  in  which  lie 
was  led  to  censure  the  actions  of  Chrysogonus  and  other 
favourites  of  the  dictator,  and,  by  his  freedom  in  that  in- 
stance, gained  much  honour  to  himself. 

Cesar,  now  connected  with  the  family  of  Ciuna,  whoso 
daughter  he  had  married,  and  being  nearly  related  to  the 
elder  Marius,  who  had  married  his  aunt,  narrowly  escaped 
the  sword  of  the  prevailing  party.  He  was  saved,  by  the 
intercession  of  some  common  friends,,  whose  request  in  his 
favour  Sylla  granted,  with  that  memorable  saying,  "  Be- 
ware of  him :  there  is  many  a  Marius  in  the  person  of  that 
young  man." 

Marcus  Porcius,  afterwards  named  Cato  of  Utica,  was 
about  three  years  younger  than  Cesar,  and  being  early  an 
orphan,  was  educated  in  the  house  of  an  uncle,  Livius 
Drusus.  While  yet  a  child,  listening  to  the  conversation 
of  the  times,  he  learned  that  the  claim  of  the  Italian  allies, 
then  in  agitation,  was  dangerous  to  the  commonwealth. 

With  the  unprecedented  degradation  of  the  tribune 
Octavius,  and  the  subsequent  murder  of  Tiberius  Gracchus, 
began,  among  the  parties  at  Rome,  a  scene  of  injuries  and 
retaliations,  with  intervals  of  anarchy  and  violent  usurpa- 
tion, which  must  have  speedily  ended  in  the  ruin  of  the 
commonwealth,  if  the  sword  had  not  passed  at  last  into 
hands  that  employed  it  for  the  restoration  of  public  order, 
as  well  as  for  the  avenging  of  private  wrongs. 

It  is  indeed  probable,  that  none  of  the  parties  in  these 
horrid  scenes  had  a  deliberate  intention  to  subvert  the 
government,  but  all  of  them  treated  the  forms  of  the  com- 
monwealth with  too  little  respect ;  and  to  obtain  some 
revenge  of  the  wrongs  which  they  themselves  apprehended 
or  endured,  did  not  scruple  in  their  turn  to  violate  the  laws 
of  their  country.  But  to  those  who  wished  to  preserve  tho 
commonwealth,  the  experience  of  fifty  years  was  now  suf- 
ficient to  show,  that  attempts  to  restore  the  laws  l>y  illegal 
methods,  and  to  terminate  animosities  by  retorted  injuries 
and  provocations,  were  extremely  vain.  The  excess  of 
the  evil  had  a  tendency  to  exhaust  its  source,  and  parties 
began  to  nauseate  the  draught  of  which  they  had  been  made 
BO  plentifully  to  drink.  There  were,  nevertheless,  some 
dregs  in  the  bottom  of  the  cup,  and  the  supplies  of  faction 
which  were  brought  by  the  rising  generation,  were  of  a 
mixture  more  dangerous  than  those  of  the  former  age.  Tht» 
example  of  Sylla,  who  made  lu'inself  lord  of  the  common* 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

wealth  by  means  of  a  military  force,  and  the  security  with 
which  he  held  his  usurpation  during-  pleasure,  had  a  more 
powerful  effect  in  exciting1  the  thirst  of  dominion,  than  the 
political  uses  which  he  made  of  his  power  or  his  magnani- 
mity in  resigning  it,  had  to  restrain  or  to  correct  the  effects 
of  that  dangerous  precedent.  Adventurers  accordingly 
arose,  who,  without  provocation,  and  equally  indifferent  to 
the  interests  of  party  as  they  were  to  those  of  the  republic, 
proceeded,  with  a  cool  and  deliberate  purpose,  to  gratify 
their  own  ambition  and  avarice,  in  the  subversion  of  the 
government  of  their  country. 

Wliile  Sylla  was  yet  alive,  ^Emilius  Lepidus,  a  man  of 
profligate  ambition,  but  of  mean  capacity,  supported  by  the 
remains  of  the  popular  faction,  stood  for  the  consulate,  and 
was  chosen,  together  with  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus,  the  son  of 
him  who,  with  Marius,  triumphed  for  their  joint  victory 
over  the  Cimbri,  and  who  afterwards  perished  by  the  orders 
of  that  usurper.* 

In  the  allotment  of  provinces  the  Transalpine  Gaul  had 
fallen  to  Lepidus ;  and,  although  it  had  been  for  some  time 
the  practice  for  consuls  to  remain  at  Rome  during  their 
continuance  in  office,  he  prepared  to  leave  the  city,  in  order 
to  take  possession  of  his  province.  This  resolution,  as  it 
implied  great  impatience  to  be  at  the  head  of  an  army,  gave 
some  jealousy  to  the  senate,  who  exacted  from  him  an 
oath,  that  he  should  not  disturb  the  public  peace.  This 
oath,  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  any  particular  distrust  in 
him,  they  likewise  exacted  from  his  colleague. 

Lepidus,  notwithstanding  his  oath,  being  arrived  in  his 
province,  made  preparations  for  war;  and,  thinking  that 
his  oath  was  binding  only  while  he  remained  in  office, 
determined  to  remain  in  Gaul  at  the  head  of  his  forces  until 
the  term  was  expired.  The  senate,  in  order  to  remove 
him  from  the  army,  appointed  him  to  preside  at  the  election 
of  his  successor.  But  he  neglected  the  summons  which 
was  sent  to  him  for  this  purpose,  and  the  year  of  the  pre- 
sent consuls  was  by  this  means  suffered  to  elapse,  before 
any  election  was  made. 

The  ordinary  succession  being  thus  interrupted,  the  sen- 
ate named  Appius  Claudius,  as  interrex,  to  hold  the  elec- 
tions, and  at  the  same  time  deprived  Lepidus  of  his  com- 
mand in  Gaul.  Upon  this  information  he  hastened  to  Italy 
with  the  troops  he  had  already  assembled,  and  greatly 
alarmed  the  republic.  The  senate  gave  to  Appius  Claudius, 
and  to  Catulus,  in  the  quality  of  proconsul,  the  usual 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  235 

charge  to  watch  over  the  safety  of  the  stt.te.  These  officers 
accordingly,  without  delay,  collected  a  military  force, 
while  Lepidus  advanced  through  EtruHa,  and  published  a 
manifesto,  in  which  he  invited  all  the  friends  of  liberty  to 
join  him,  and  made  a  formal  demand  of  being  re-invested 
with  the  consular  power.  Lepidus  arrived  at  the  gates  of 
Rome,  seized  the  Janiculum  and  one  of  the  bridges  that  led 
to  the  city.  He  was  met  by  Catulus  in  the  Campus  .Mar- 
tins, repulsed  and  routed.  All  his  party  dispersed ;  lie  him- 
self lied  to  Sardinia,  and  soon  after  died. 

Marcus  Brutus,  the  father  of  him  who,  in  the  continua- 
tion of  these  troubles,  afterwards  fell  at  Philippi,  having 
joined  with  Lepidus  in  this  rash  a::  I  profligate  attempt 
against  the  republic,  was  obliged  at  Mantua  to  surrender 
himself  to  Pompey,  and,  by  his  orde^,  was  put  to  death. 
But  the  most  considerable  part  of  the  army  of  Lepidus 
penetrated,  nncler  the  conduct  of  Perp'rna,  into  Spain,  and 
joined  Sertorius,  who  was  now  become  the  refuge  of  one 
party  in  its  distress,  as  Syllahad  formerly  been  of  the  other. 

Before  the  arrival  of  Lepidus  with  his  army  in  Italy, 
Mithridates  had  sent  to  obtain  from  the  senate  a  ratification 
of  the  treaty  he  had  concluded  with  Sylla :  but  on  receiv- 
ing intelligence  of  that  event,  he  was  encouraged  to  think 
of  renewing  the  war.  Sensible  that  he  could  not  rely  on  a 
permanent  peace  with  the  Roman  republic,  he  had  already 
provided  an  army,  not  so  considerable  in  respect  to  num- 
bers as  that  which  he  formerly  had,  but  more  formidable  by 
the  order  and  discipline  he  had  endeavoured  to  introduce 
on  the  model  of  the  legion.  He  nattered  himself  that  the 
distraction  under  which  the  Romans  now  laboured  at  home, 
would  render  them  unable  to  resist  his  forces  in  Asia,  and 
give  him  an  opportunity  to  remove  the  only  obstruction 
that  remained  to  his  own  conquests.  He  avoided,  in  the 
time  of  a  negotiation,  and  without  the  pretext  of  a  new 
provocation,  to  break  out  into  open  hostilities ;  but  he 
encouraged  his  son-in-law  Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia,  to 
make  war  on  the  Roman  allies  in  his  neighbourhood,  and 
thereby  laid  the  foundation  of  a  quarrel  which  he  might 
either  adopt  or  decline  at  pleasure. 

Sertorius,  who  had  erected  the  standard  of  the  republic 
in  Spain,  gave  refuge  to  the  Roman  exiles  from  every 
quarter,  and  was  now  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  power, 
composed  of  Italians  as  well  as  natives  of  that  country.  By 
his  birth  and  abilities  he  had  pretensions  to  the  highest  pre» 
ferments  of  the  state,  and  had  been  early  distinguished  as  a 
soldier,  qualified  either  to  plan  or  to  execute.  He  was 
attached  to  Marius  in  the  time  of  the  Cimbric  war,  and 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  [H.  ill. 

became  a  party  with  this  leader  in  his  quarrel  with  Sylla. 
'His  animosity  to  the  latter  was  increased  by  the  mutua. 
opposition  of  their  interests  in  the  pursuit  of  civil  prefer- 
ments. At  the  beginning-  of  the  civil  war,  Sertorius  took 
an  active  part,  but  showed  more  respect  to  the  constitution 
of  his  country,  and  more  mercy  to  those  who  were  oppose- 
to  liim,  than  either  of  his  associates  Marius  or  Cinna.  Wheu 
his  party  were  in  possession  of  the  government,  he  was 
appointed  to  command  in  Spain,  and  after  the  ruin  of  their 
affairs  in  Italy,  withdrew  into  that  province.  He  was 
received  as  a  Roman  governor ;  but,  soon  after  the  other 
party  prevailed  in  Italy,  was  attacked  on  their  part  by 
Caius  Annius,  who  came  with  a  proper  force  to  dislodge 
him.  Not  in  condition  to  maintain  himself  any  longer  in 
Spain,  he  embarked  with  what  forces  he  had  at  Carthagena, 
and  continued  for  some  years,  with  a  small  squadron  of 
Cilician  galleys,  to  subsist  by  the  spoils  of  Africa  and  the 
contiguous  coasts.  In  this  state  of  his  fortunes  he  formed 
a  project  to  visit  the  Fortunate  Islands,  and  if  a  settlement 
could  be  effected  there,  to  bid  farewell  for  ever  to  the  Ro- 
man world ;  to  its  factions,  its  divisions,  and  its  troubles. 
But  while  he  was  about  to  set  sail  in  search  of  this  famous 
retreat  in  the  ocean,  he  received  an  invitation  from  the 
unsubdued  natives  of  Lusitania  to  become  their  leader.  At 
their  head  his  abilities  soon  made  him  conspicuous.  He 
affected  to  consider  the  Lusitanians  as  the  senate  and  peo- 
ple of  Rome,  treating  the  establishment  of  Sylla  in  Italy  as 
a  mere  usurpation. 

The  report  of  the  formidable  power  of  Sertorius,  the 
late  accession  he  had  gained  by  the  junction  of  some  of  the 
Marian  forces  under  the  command  of  Perperna,  and  his 
supposed  preparations  to  make  a  descent  upon  Italy,  gave 
an  alarm  at  Rome.  Metellus  had  been  some  time  employed 
against  him  in  Spain ;  but  being  scarcely  able  to  keep  the 
field,  his  opposition  tended  only  to  augment  the  reputation 
of  his  antagonist.*  The  consuls  lately  elected  were  judged 
unequal  to  this  war,  and  the  thoughts  of  all  men  were 
turned  on  Pompey,  who  though  yet  in  no  public  charac- 
ter, nor  arrived  at  the  legal  age  of  state  preferments,  had 
the  address  on  this,  as  on  many  other  occasions,  to  make 
himself  be  pointed  at  as  the  only  person  who  could  effect- 
ually serve  the  republic.  He  was  accordingly,  with  the 
title  of  proconsul,  joined  to  Metellus  in  the  conduct  of  the 
war  in  Spain. 

Pompey,  having  made  the  levies  destined  for  tWs  &er» 

*  U,  C.  674. 


CH.  1.1  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  237 

vice,  pastel  the  Alp3  by  a  new  route,  and  was  the  first 
Roman  general  who  made  his  way  into  Spain  through  Gaul 
and  the  Pyrenees.  He  found  himself  unable  to  withstand 
the  progress  which  Sertorius  was  making*  in  subduing"  the 
Roman  cities  ;  and  after  concluding  an  unsuccessful  cam- 
paign, he  retired  into  Gaul  for  the  winter. 

The  following  year,  Cn.  Octavius  and  C.  Scribonius 
Curio  being  consuls,  Pompey  still  remained  in  his  com 
:nand;  and,  having  repassed  the  Pyrenees,  directed  hi? 
inarch  to  join  Metellus.*  Sertorius  lay  on  the  Sucrof  an£ 
wished  to  engage  him  before  the  junction ;  and  Pompey, 
on  his  part,  being  desirous  to  reap  the  glory  of  a  separate 
victory,  an  action  ensued,  in  which  the  wing  on  which 
Pompey  fought  was  defeated  by  Sertorius  ;  but  the  other 
wing  had  the  victory  over  Perperna.  As  Sertorius  was 
about  to  renew  the  action  on  the  following  day,  he  was 
prevented  by  the  arrival  of  Metellus. 

This  war  continued  about  two  years  longer  with  various 
success,  but  without  any  memorable  event,  until  it  ended 
by  the  death  of  Sertorius,  who,  at  the  instigation  of  Per- 
perna, was  betrayed  and  assassinated  by  a  few  of  his  own 
attendants.  Perperna,  having  removed  Sertorius  by  this 
base  action,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  en- 
deavoured to  keep  them  united,  at  least  until  he  should  be 
able  to  purchase  his  peace  at  Rome.  He  was,  however, 
deserted  by  numbers  of  his  own  people,  and  at  last  sur- 
prised by  Pompey,  and  slain.  He  had  made  offers  to  dis- 
close the  secrets  of  the  party,  and  to  produce  the  corre- 
spondence which  many  of  the  principal  citizens  at  Rome 
held  with  Sertorius,  inviting  him  to  return  into  Italy,  and 
promising  to  join  him  with  a  formidable  power.  The  let- 
ters were  secured  by  Pompey,  and,  without  being  opened, 
were  burned.  So  masterly  an  act  of  prudence,  in  a  person 
who  was  yet  considered  as  a  young  man,  has  been  deserv- 
edly admired. 

While  Pompey  was  thus  gathering  laurels  in  the  field, 
C.  Julius  Caesar,  being  about  seven  years  younger,  that  is, 
wenty-three  years  of  age,  was  returned  from  Asia ;  and 
to  make  some  trial  of  his  parts,  laid  an  accusation  against 
Dolabella,  late  proconsul  of  Macedonia,  for  oppression  and 
extortion  in  his  province.  Cotta  and  Hortensius,  appear- 
ing for  the  defendant,  procured  his  acquittal.  Cioero  says, 
that  he  himielf  was  then  returned  from  a  journey  he  had 
made  into  Asia,  and  was  present  at  this  trial.  The  follow- 
ing year  Caesar  left  Rome,  with  intention  to  pass  som« 

•  U.  C,  677  t  The  Xucar,  which  falls  into  the  Bay  of  ValenUc 


233  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  la. 

time  under  a  celebrated  master  of  rhetoric  at  Rhodes.  la 
his  way  he  was  taken  by  pirates,  and  detained  about  forty 
days,  until  he  found  means  to  procure  from  Metellus  a  sum 
of  fifty  talents,*  which  was  paid  for  his  ransom.  He  had 
frequently  told  the  pirates,  while  yet  in  their  hands,  that  he 
would  punish  their  insolence ;  and  he  now  told  them  to 
expect  the  performance  of  Ms  promise.  Upon  being  set  ou 
shore,  he  assembled  and  armed  some  vessels  on  the  coast, 
pursued  and  took  his  captors.  Leaving-  his  prisoners  where 
he  landed,  he  hastened  to  Junius  Silanus,  the  proconsul 
or  Bithynia,  and  applied  for  an  order  to  have  them  exe- 
cuted ;  but  being  refused  by  this  officer,  he  made  his  way 
back  with  still  greater  despatch,  and,  before  any  instruc- 
tions could  arrive  to  the  contrary,  had  the  pirates  nailed  to 
the  cross. 

Under  the  reformations  of  Sylla,  which,  by  disarming  the 
tribunitian  power,  in  a  great  measure  shut  up  the  source  or 
former  disorders,  the  republic  was  now  restored  to  some 
degree  of  tranquillity,  and  resumed  its  attention  to  the 
ordinary  objects  of  peace.  The  bridge  on  the  Tiber,  which 
had  been  erected  of  wood,  was  taken  down  and  rebuilt 
with  stone ;  bearing  the  name  of  JSmilius,  one  of  the  ques- 
tors  under  whose  inspection  the  fabric  had  been  reared; 
and  as  a  public  work  of  still  greater  consequence,  it  is  men- 
tioned, that  a  treatise  on  agriculture,  the  production  of 
Mago  a  Carthaginian,  and  in  the  language  of  Carthage,  was, 
by  the  express  orders  of  the  senate,  now  translated  into 
Latin.  At  the  reduction  of  Carthage,  the  Romans  were 
yet  governed  by  husbandmen,  and,  amidst  the  literary 
spoils  of  that  city,  this  book  alone,  consisting  of  twenty- 
eight  rolls  or  volumes,  was  supposed  to  merit  public  atten- 
tion, and  was  secured  for  the  state.  A  number  of  persons, 
skilled  in  the  Punic  language,  together  \vith  Silanus,  who 
had  the  principal  charge  of  the  work,  were  employed  in 
translating  it. 

The  calm,  however,  which  the  republic  enjoyed  under 
the  ascendant  of  the  aristocracy,  was  not  altogether  undis- 
turbed. In  the  consulate  of  Cn.  Octavius  and  C.  Scribo- 
nius  Curio,  the  tribune  Licinius  made  an  attempt  to  recover 
the  former  powers  of  the  office.  He  ventured,  in  presence  01 
both  the  consuls,  to  harangue  the  people,  and  exhorted  them 
to  reassume  their  ancient  rights.  The  sequel  is  imperfectly 
known ;  but  the  dispute  appears  to  have  been  carried  to  a 
great  height,  and  to  have  ended  in  a  tumult,  in  which  th« 
tribune  was  killed. 

*  Near  to  lO.QOfW. 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  239 

Upon  a  review  of  Sylla's  acts  intended  to  restore  the 
authority  of  the  senate,  it  may  be  questioned,  whether  that 
clause  in  the  law  relating  to  the  tribunes,  by  which  all  per- 
sons having1  accepted  of  this  office  were  excluded  from  any 
further  preferment  in  the  state,  may  not  have  had  an  ill 
effect,  and  required  correction.  It  rendered  the  tribunate 
an  object  only  to  the  meanest  of  the  senators,  who,  upon 
their  acceptance  of  it,  ceasing1  to  have  any  pretensions  to 
the  higher  offices  of  state,  were,  by  this  means,  deprived  of 
any  interest  in  the  government,  and  exasperated  against 
the  higher  dignities  of  the  commonwealth.*  Aurelius 
Cotta,  one  of  the  consuls  that  succeeded  Cn.  Octavius  and 
Curio,  moved  perhaps  by  this  consideration,  proposed  to 
have  that  clause  repealed,  and  was  warmly  supported  by 
the  tribune  Opimius,  who,  contrary  to  the  prohibition  lately 
enacted,  ventured  to  harangue  the  people;  and  for  this 
offence,  at  the  expiration  of  liis  office,  was  tried  and  con- 
demned. 

By  the  defects  which  the  people  began  to  apprehend  in 
their  present  institutions,  or  by  the  part  which  their  dema- 
gogues began  to  take  against  the  aristocracy,  the  Roman 
state,  after  a  very  short  respite,  began  to  relapse  into  its 
former  troubles,  and  was  again  to  exhibit  the  curious  spec- 
tacle of  a  nation  divided  against  itself,  broken  and  distracted 
in  its  councils,  which  nevertheless  prevailed  in  all  its  oper- 
ations abroad,  and  gained  continual  accessions  of  empire, 
under  the  effect  of  convulsions  which  shook  the  common- 
wealth itself  to  its  base  ;  and,  what  is  still  less  to  be  paral- 
leled in  the  history  of  mankind,  was  to  exhibit  the  spectacle 
of  a  nation,  which  proceeded  in  its  affairs  abroad  with  a 
success  that  may  be  imputed  in  a  great  measure  to  its  divi- 
sions at  home. 

The  reputation,  as  well  as  the  arms  of  the  Romans,  pro 
cured  them  accessions  of  territory  without  labour  and  with- 
out expense.  Kingdoms  were  bequeathed  to  them  by  will ; 
as  that  of  Pergamus,  formerly  by  the  will  of  Attalus ;  that 
of  Cyrene  by  the  will  of  Ptolemy  Appion;  and  that  of 
Bithynia,  about  this  time,  by  the  will  of  Nieomedes.  To 
the  same  effect,  princes  and  states,  where  they  did  not 
make  anv  formal  cession  of  their  sovereignty,  did  some- 
what equivalent,  by  submitting  their  rights  to  discussion  at 
Rome,  and  by  soliciting  grants  from  the  Romans,  of  which 
the  world  now  seemed  to  acknowledge  the  validity,  by 
having  recourse  to  them  as  the  basis  of  tenures  by  which 
they  held  their  possessions. 

•  U.  C.  S7R. 


240  ma'lORY  OF  THE  LJ».  ia 

In  Asia,  by  these  means,  the  Roman  empire  advanced  on 
the  ruin  of  those  who  had  formerly  opposed  its  progress. 
The  Macedonian  line,  in  the  monarchy  of  Syria,  was  now 
broken  off,  or  extinct.  The  kingdom  itself,  consisting  of 
many  provinces,  began  to  be  dismembered,  on  the  defeat  of 
Antiochus  at  Sipylus,  by  the  defection  of  provincial  gover- 
nors and  tributary  princes,  who,  no  longer  awed  by  the 
power  of  their  former  master,  entered  into  a  correspon- 
dence with  the  Romans,  and  were  by  them  acknowledged 
as  sovereigns. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  Romans  were  left  undisturbed 
to  re -establish  their  province  in  the  Lesser  Asia :  and  under 
the  auspices  of  Servilius,  who,  from  his  principal  acquisi- 
tion in  those  parts,  had  the  name  Isauricus,  were  extending 
their  limits  on  the  side  of  Cilicia,  and  were  hastening  to 
the  sovereignty  of  that  coast,  when  their  progress  was  sud- 
denly checked  by  the  re-appearance  of  an  enemy,  who  had 
already  given  them  much  trouble  in  that  quarter. 

Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  who  appears  to  have  revived 
in  his  own  breast  the  animosities  of  Pyrrhus  and  of  Hanni- 
bal against  the  Romans,  had  never  ceased,  since  the  date  of 
his  last  mortifying  treaty  with  Sylla,  to  devise  the  means  of 
renewing  the  war.  Having  attempted  in  vain  to  engage 
Sylla  in  a  league  with  himself  against  the  Romans,  he  made 
a  similar  attempt  on  Sertorius  in  Spain,  and  with  a  result 
nearly  similar. 

The  king  of  Pontus,  now  bent  on  correcting  the  error 
which  is  common  in  extensive  and  barbarous  monarchies, 
of  relying  entirely  on  numbers,  instead  of  discipline  and 
military  skill,  proposed  to  form  a  more  regular  army  than 
that  which  he  had  assembled  in  the  former  war ;  and,  how- 
ever little  successful  in  his  endeavours,  meant  to  rival  his 
enemy  in  every  particular  of  their  discipline,  in  the  use  of 
their  weapons,  and  in  the  form  of  their  legion.  With 
troops  beginning  to  make  these  reformations,  and  amount- 
ing to  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  foot,  and  sixteen 
thousand  horse,  he  declared  war  on  the  Romans,  and,  with- 
out resistance,  took  possession  of  Cappadocia  and  Phrygia, 
beyond  the  bounds  they  had  set  to  his  kingdom.  He  en- 
deavoured to  animate  and  to  unite  in  a  common  zeal  for 
his  cause  the  different  nations  that  were  collected  from 
remote  parts  of  the  empire,  to  form  his  army.  For  this 
purpose  he  enumerated  the  successes  by  which  he  had 
raised  his-  kingdom  to  its  present  pitch  of  greatness,  and 
represented  the  numerous  vices  of  the  enemy  with  whom 
KB  was  now  to  engage,  their  divisions  at  hoire  and  their 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  24  i 

oppression  abroad,  their  avarice,  and  insatiable  lust  of  do 
minion. 

The  Romans  were  some  time  undetermined  whom  they 
should  employ  against  this  formidable  enemy.  When  tl.« 
provinces  came  to  be  distributed,  the  difficulties  which  pre- 
sented themselves  in  Asia  were  thought  to  require  the  pre- 
sence of  both  the  consuls.  Accordingly  Cotta  was  appoint'"! 
to  seize  on  the  kingdom  of  Bithynia,  lately  bequeathe-l  t-» 
the  Romans,  and  Lucullus  to  lead  the  army  against  Mith 
ridates  wherever  else  he  should  carry  the  war.  Cotta  set 
out  immediately  for  his  province.  Lucullus,  being  detaine-.* 
in  making  the  necessary  levies,  followed  some  time  after- 
wards :  but  before  his  arrival  in  Asia,  the  king  of  Pontus 
had  already  invaded  Bithynia,  defeated  the  forces  of  Cotta, 
and  obliged  him  to  take  refuge  in  Chalcedonia.  The  king 
of  Pontus,  being  superior  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  overran 
the  country  in  the  neighbourhood  of  this  place  ;  and,  hav- 
ing broke  the  chain  which  shut  up  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bour, he  entered  and  burned  some  Roman  galleys,  which 
were  stationed  there.  Not  thinking  it  advisable  to  attar' 
the  town  of  Chalcedonia,  he  turned  his  forces  against  Cyzi 
cus,  a  port  on  the  Propontis,  blocked  up  the  place  both  b> 
sea  and  by  land ;  and,  being  well  provided  with  battering 
engines,  and  the  other  necessaries  of  a  siege,  he  had  hopes 
of  being  soon  able  to  reduce  it  by  storm. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Lucullus  arrived  in 
Asia  ;  and  having  joined  his  new  levies  to  the  legions  which 
had  served  under  Fimbria,  and  to  the  other  troops  already 
in  the  province,  he  assembled  an  army  of  about  thirty  thou- 
sand men,  with  which  he  advanced  to  re-establish  Cotta  in 
his  province,  and  to  relieve  the  town  of  Cyzicus.  The  king 
of  Pontus,  being  elated  by  his  successes,  and  by  the  superi- 
ority of  his  numbers,  gave  no  attention  to  the  motions  of 
Lucullus,  suffered  him  to  get  possession  of  the  heights  in 
nis  rear,  and  to  cut  off  his  principal  supplies  of  provisions 
and  forage.  Trusting  that  his  magazines  would  not  be 
exhausted  before  he  should  have  forced  the  town  of  Cyzi- 
cus to  surrender,  ho  continued  the  siege.  But  his  engines 
not  being  well  served,  and  the  defence  being  obstinate,  his 
army  began  to  be  distressed  for  want  of  provisions,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  lessen  his  consumption.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  secretly  moved  away  part  of  his  cavalry.  These 
were  intercepted  by  the  Romans  en  their  march,  and  cut 
off  or  dispersed;  and  the  king  being  reduced  with  the 
remainder  of  his  army  to  the  greatest  distress,  embarke.i 
on  board  one  of  hi*  galleyB,  ordered  the  army  to  force  their 
way  to  Lampsacu;,  while  h<>  hinteif  endeavoured  toescapo 


242  HISTORY  OF  THE  L«-  *!'• 

with  his  fleet.  The  army  being  attacked  by  Lucullus,  the 
greater  part  of  them  perished  in  passing-  the  Asopus  and 
the  Granicus.  The  king-  himself,  having  been  taken  by  a 
storm,  lost  the  greatest  part  of  his  fleet,  and  he  himself 
narrowly  escaped  in  a  barge. 

The  whole  force  with  which  the  king  of  Pontus  had 
invaded  Bithynia,  being  thus  dispelled  like  a  cloud,  Lucui- 
lus  took  his  route  by  Bithynia  and  Galatia  towards  Pontus. 
At  his  entrance  into  this  kingdom  was  situated  the  town 
of  Amysus,  a  considerable  fortress  on  the  coast  of  the  Eux- 
ine,  into  which  the  king  had  thrown  a  sufficient  force  to 
retard  his  progress.  Mithridates,  under  favour  of  the  time 
he  gained  by  the  defence  of  this  place,  assembled  a  new 
army  at  Cabira,  near  the  frontier  of  Armenia.  Here  he 
mustered  about  forty  thousand  foot,  and  a  considerable 
body  of  horse,  and  was  soliciting  the  Scythians,  Armenians, 
and  all  the  nations  of  that  continent  to  his  aid.  Lucullus, 
in  order  to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  further  reinforcements 
to  the  enemy,  committed  the  siege  of  Amysus  to  Murena, 
and  advanced  with  his  army  into  the  plains  of  Cabira.  On 
this  ground  the  troops  cf  Mithridates,  having  been  routed 
in  a  partial  encounter,  the  king  took  a  resolution  to  decamp 
in  the  night,  and  remove  to  a  greater  distance  from  the 
Romans.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  the  equipage  and  the 
attendants  of  the  leading  men  in  the  camp,  to  whom  he  had 
communicated  this  resolution,  began  to  withdraw ;  and  the 
army,  greatly  alarmed  with  that  appearance,  was  seized 
with  a  panic,  and  could  not  be  restrained  from  flight.  Horse 
and  foot,  and  bodies  of  every  description  crowded  in  dis- 
order into  the  avenues  of  the  camp,  and  were  trod  under 
foot,  or  in  great  numbers  perished  by  each  other's  hands. 
Mithridates  himself,  endeavouring  to  stop  and  to  undeceive 
them,  was  carried  off  by  the  multitude. 

The  noise  of  this  tumult  being  heard  to  a  great  distance, 
and  the  occasion  being  known  in  the  Roman  camp,  Lucul- 
lus advanced  with  his  army  to  take  advantage  of  the  con- 
fusion in  which  the  enemy  were  fallen,  and  by  a  vigorous 
attack  put  many  to  the  sword,  and  hastened  their  disper- 
sion. 

The  king  was,  by  one  of  his  servants,  with  difficulty 
mounted  on  horseback,  and  must  have  been  taken,  if  the 
pursuing  party  had  not  been  amused  in  seizing  some  plun- 
der, which  he  had  ordered  on  purpose  to  be  left  in  their 
way.  In  his  flight  he  appeared  to  be  most  affected  with  the 
fate  of  his  women.  The  greatest  number  of  them  were  left 
at  the  palace  of  Pharnacea,  a  place  that  must  soon  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  He  therefore  despatched  a  faith- 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  243 

ful  eunuch  with  orders  to  put  them  to  death,  leaving  the 
choice  of  the  manner  to  themselves.  By  their  deaths,  the 
barbarous  jealousy  of  the  king  was  gratified,  and  the  future 
triumph  of  the  Rowan  general  deprived  of  its  principal 
ornaments. 

Lucullus,  after  his  late  victory,  having  no  enemy  in  the 
field  to  oppose  him,  passed  through  the  country,  and  entered 
without  molestation  into  many  of  the  towns  in  the  kingdom 
of  Pontus.  He  found  many  palaces  enriched  with  treasure, 
ami  adorned  with  barbarous  magnificence ;  and,  as  might 
I)e  expected  under  such  a  violent  and  distrustful  govern- 
ment, everywhere  places  of  confinement  crowded  with 
prisoners  of  state,  whom  the  jealousy  of  the  king  had 
secured,  and  whom  his  supercilious  neglect  had  suffered  to 
remain  in  custody  even  after  his  jealousy  was  allayed. 

Mithridates,  from  his  late  defeat,  fled  into  Armenia,  and 
claimed  the  protection  of  Tigranes,  who,  being  married  to 
his  daughter,  had  already  favoured  him  in  his  designs 
against  the  Romans. 

Lucullus  continued  his  pursuit  of  this  flying  enemy  only 
to  the  frontier  of  Armenia,  and  from  thence,  sending  Pub- 
lius  Clodius,  who  was  his  brother-in-law,  to  the  court  of 
Tigranes,  with  instructions  to  require  that  Mithridates 
should  be  delivered  up  as  a  lawful  prey,  he  himself  fell 
back  into  the  kingdom  of  Pontus,  and  soon  after  reduced 
Amysus,  together  with  Sinope,  and  other  places  of  strength, 
which  were  held  by  the  troops  of  the  king. 


CHAP.  II. 

Escape  and  Revolt  of  the  Gladiatort  at  Capua  — Sparlacut— His  defeat 
of  Lentulus  and  of  Cassius— Appointment  of  M.  Crassus  for  this  ser- 
vice —  Destruction  of  the  Gladiators—  Triumph  of  Metettus  and  Pom- 
pey — Consulship  of  Pompey  and  Crassus— Tribunes  restored  to  their 
former  Powers— Domestic  policy  of  the  Consuls  —  Consulate  of  Metel- 
lus  and  Hort ensius—  War  in  Crete— Renewal  of  the  war  in  PontuM 
and  Armenia— Defeat  of  Tigranes  —  Negotiation  with  the  King  of 
Parthia — Mutiny  of  the  Roman  Army— Complaints  of  Piracies  com' 
milted  in  the  Roman  Seas — Commission  proposed  to  Pompey  His  con- 
duct against  the  Pirates  — His  Commission  extended  to  Pontut  -  Oper- 
ations against  Mithridates— Defeat  and  Flight  of  that  Prince  — Oper- 
ations of  Pompey  in  Syria— Siege  and  Reduction  of  Jerusalem — Death 
of  Mithridates. 

SOON  after  the  war,  of  which  we  have  thus  stated  the  event, 
had  commenced  in  Asia,  Italy  was  thrown  into  great  oon- 


244  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I1L 

fusion  by  the  accidental  escape  of  a  few  gladiators  from  the 
place  of  their  confinement  at  Capua.*  These  were  slaves 
trained  up  to  furnish  their  masters  with  a  spectacle,  which, 
though  cruel  and  barbarous,  drew  numerous  crowds  of 
beholders.  It  was  at  first  introduced  as  a  species  of  human 
sacrifice  at  funerals,  and  the  victims  were  now  kept  by  the 
wealthy  in  great  numbers  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
people,  and  even  for  private  amusement.  The  handsomest, 
the  most  active,  and  the  boldest  of  the  slaves  and  captives 
were  selected  for  this  purpose.  They  were  sworn  to  decline 
no  combat,  and  to  shun  no  hardship,  to  which  they  were 
exposed  by  their  masters ;  they  were  of  different  denomina- 
tions, and  accustomed  to  fight  in  different  ways  ;  but  those 
from  whom  the  whole  received  their  designation,  employed 
the  sword  and  buckler,  or  target;  and  they  commonly 
fought  naked,  that  the  place  and  nature  of  the  wounds  they 
received  might  the  more  plainly  appear. 

Persons  of  every  age,  condition,  and  sex,  attended  at  these 
exhibitions  ;  and  when  the  pair  who  were  engaged  began 
t?o  strain  and  to  bleed,  the  spectators,  being  divided  in  their 
inclinations,  endeavoured  to  excite,  by  their  cries  and  ac- 
clamations, the  party  they  favoured :  and  when  the  contest 
was  ended,  called  to  the  victor  to  strike,  or  to  spare,  accord- 
ing as  the  vanquished  was  supposed  to  have  forfeited  or  to 
have  deserved  his  life.  With  these  exhibitions,  which  must 
create  so  much  disgust  and  horror  in  the  recital,  the  Ro- 
mans were  more  intoxicated  than  any  populace  in  modern 
Europe  now  are  with  the  baiting  of  bulls,  or  the  running  of 
horses,  probably  because  they  were  more  deeply  affected, 
and  more  violently  moved. 

Spartacus,  a  Thracian  captive,  who,  on  account  of  his 
strength  and  activity,  had  been  destined  for  this  barbarous 
profession,  with  about  seventy  or  eighty  of  his  companions, 
escaped  from  their  place  of  confinement,  and  arming  them- 
selves with  such  weapons  as  accident  presented  to  them, 
retired  to  some  fastness  on  the  ascent  of  Mount  Vesuvius, 
.ind  from  thence  harassed  the  country  with  robberies  and 
murders.  "  If  we  are  to  fight,"  said  the  leader  of  this  des- 
perate band,  "  let  us  fight  against  our  oppressors,  and  in 
behalf  of  our  own  liberties,  not  to  make  sport  for  this  petu- 
iant  and  cruel  race  of  men  "  Multitudes  of  slaves  from 
every  quarter  flocked  to  his  standard.  The  prefect  of 
Capua  armed  the  inhabitants  of  his  district  against  them, 
but  was  defeated. 

This  feeble  and  unsuccessful  attempt  to  quell  the  insur- 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  245 

rection,  furnished  the  rebels  with  arms,  and  raised  their 
reputation  and  their  courage.  Their  leader,  by  his  gener- 
osity in  rejecting  his  own  share  of  any  booty  he  made,  by 
his  conduct  and  his  valour,  acquired  the  authority  of  a  legal 
commander;  and,  having  named  Crixus  and  Enomaus, 
two  other  gladiators,  for  his  subordinate  officers,  he  formed 
the  multitudes  that  resorted  to  him  into  regular  bodies, 
employed  a  certain  number  to  fabricate  arms,  and  to  pro- 
cure the  necessary  accommodations  of  a  camp,  till  at  length 
he  collected  an  army  of  seventy  thousand  men,  with  which 
he  commanded  the  country  to  a  great  extent.  He  had 
already  successively  defeated  the  pretors  Clodius,  Varinus, 
•ind  Cossinius,  who  had  been  sent  against  him  with  consid- 
erable forces,  so  that  it  became  necessary  to  order  proper 
levies,  and  to  give  to  the  consuls  the  charge  of  repressing 
this  formidable  enemy. 

Spartacus  had  too  much  prudence  to  think  himself  fit  to 
contend  with  the  force  of  the  Roman  state,  which  he  per- 
ceived must  soon  be  assembled  against  him.  He  contented 
himself,  therefore,  with  a  more  rational  scheme  of  conduct- 
ing his  army  by  the  ridge  of  the  Apennines,  till  he  should 
gain  the  Alps,  from  whence  his  followers,  whether  Gauls, 
Germans,  or  Thracians,  might  separate,  each  into  the  coun- 
try of  which  he  was  a  native,  or  from  which  he  had  been 
originally  brought. 

While  he  began  his  progress  by  the  mountains,  in  order 
to  execute  this  project,  the  consuls,  Gellius  and  Lentulus, 
hud  already  taken  the  field  against  him.*  Lentulus  brought 
on  an  action,  in  which  the  consular  army  was  defeated  with 
considerable  loss.  Cassius  too,  the  pretor  of  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  having  advanced  with  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men, 
was  repulsed  with  great  slaughter. 

In  consequence  of  these  advantages,  Spartacus  might  no 
doubt  have  effected  his  retreat  to  the  Alps ;  but  his  army 
being  elated  with  victory,  formed  a  new  project  of  march 
ing  to  Rome,  In  this  he  was  disappointed  by  the  consuls, 
with  whom  he  was  obliged  to  fight  in  the  Picenum  ;  and, 
though  victorious  in  the  action,  he  lost  hopes  of  surprising 
the  city.  But  still  thinking  himself  in  condition  to  keep  his 
ground  in  Italy,  he  only  altered  his  route,  and  directed  his 
inarch  towards  Lucania. 

The  Romans,  greatly  embarrassed,  and  thrown  into  some 
degree  of  consternation,  by  the  unexpected  continuance  of 
this  insurrection,  imposed  the  command  of  the  army  on 
Marcus  Crassus,  then  in  the  rank  of  pretor,  and  supposed 

*  u.  c.  «fti. 
X 


24^  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

to  be  a  person  of  consequence,  more  on  account  of  his 
wealth  than  of  his  abilities.  They  at  the  same  time  sent 
orders  to  Pompey,  who  had  finished  the  war  in  Spain,  to 
hasten  into  Italy  with  his  army  ;  and  to  the  proconsul  of 
Macedonia,  to  embark  with  what  forces  r.ould  be  spared 
from  his  province. 

Crassus  assembled  no  less  than  six  legions,  with  which  he 
joined  the  army  which  had  been  already  so  unsuccessful 
against  the  revolt.  Of  the  troops  who  had  misbehaved  he 
is  said  to  have  executed,  perhaps  only  decimated,  four  thou- 
sand, as  an  example  to  the  new  levies,  and  as  a  warning-  of 
the  severities  they  were  to  expect  for  any  failure  in  the 
remaining  part  of  the  service. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Lucania  he  cut  off  ten  thousand  of 
the  rebels  who  were  stationed  at  a  distance  from  the  main 
body  of  their  army,  and  he  endeavoured  to  shut  up  Sparta- 
cus  in  the  peninsula  of  Brutium,  or  head  of  land  which  ex- 
tends to  the  Straits  of  Messina.  Crassus  at  the  same  time 
undertook  to  intrench  the  land  from  sea  to  sea  with  a  ditch 
fifteen  feet  wide,  and  as  many  deep,  extending,  according 
to  Plutarch,  three  hundred  stadia,  or  above  thirty  miles  ; 
and  was  busy  completing  his  line,  when  Spartacus,  prepared 
to  force  it.  Having  provided  faggots  and  other  materials 
for  this  purpose,  he  tilled  up  the  ditch  at  a  convenient  place, 
nnd  passed  it  in  the  night  with  the  whole  body  of  his  fol- 
/owers.  He  directed  his  march  to  Apulia,  but  was  pur- 
sued, and  greatly  harassed  in  his  flight. 

Accounts  being  received  at  once  in  the  camp  of  Crassus 
and  in  that  of  Spartacus,  that  fresh  troops  were  landed  at 
Brundusium  from  Macedonia,  and  that  Pompey  was  arrived 
in  Italy,  and  on  his  march  to  join  Crassus,  both  armies  were 
equally  disposed  to  hazard  a  battle.  Both  leaders  drew 
them  forth ;  and  when  ready  to  engage,  Spartacus  direct- 
ing the  division  in  which  he  himself  commanded  to  maku 
their  attack  where  he  understood  the  Roman  general  was 
posted,  intended  to  decide  the  action  by  forcing  the  Romans 
in  that  quarter.  After  much  bloodshed,  however,  being 
mangled  with  wounds,  and  still  almost  alone  in  the  midst 
of  his  enemies,  he  continued  to  fight  till  he  was  killed ;  and 
the  victory  of  course  declared  for  his  enemy.  About  a 
thousand  of  the  Romans  were  slain ;  of  the  vanquished  the 
greatest  slaughter,  as  usual  in  ancient  battles,  took  place 
after  the  flight  began.  The  dead  were  not  numbered; 
about  six  thousand  were  taken,  and,  in  the  manner  of  exe- 
cuting the  sentence  of  death  on  slaves,  they  were  nailed  to 
the  cross  in  rows,  that  lined  the  way  from  Capua  to  Rome. 
Such  as  escaped  from  the  field  of  battle,  being  about  five 


CM.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  247 

thousand,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Pompey,  and  furnished  a 
pretence  to  his  flatterers  for  ascribing  to  him  the  honour  of 
terminating"  the  war. 

Pompey  too  arrived  at  the  same  time  with  new  and 
uncommon  pretensions,  requiring  a  dispensation  from  the 
la \v  and  established  forms  of  the  commonwealth.  The  war 
he  had  conducted  in  Spain  being  of  the  nature  of  a  civil 
war  against  Roman  citizens  or  subjects,  with  a  Roman  gen- 
eral at  their  head,  did  not  give  a  regular  claim  to  a  triumph 
Pompey  himself  was  yet  under  the  legal  age,  and  had  no 
passed  through  any  of  the  previous  steps  of  questor,  edile, 
and  pretor ;  yet  on  the  present  occasion  he  not  only  insisted 
on  a  triumph,  but  put  in  his  claim  likewise  to  an  immediate 
nomination  to  the  office  of  consul. 

Upon  his  approach  at  the  head  of  an  army  from  Spain,  the 
senate  was  greatly  alarmed ;  but  he  gave  the  most  unfeigned 
assurances  of  his  intention  to  disband  his  army  as  soon  as 
they  should  have  attended  his  triumph.*  The  senate 
accordingly  gave  way  to  this  irregular  pretension,  and  after- 
wards to  the  pretension,  still  more  dangerous,  which,  with- 
out any  of  the  previous  conditions  which  the  law  required, 
he  made  to  the  consulate.  Crassus,  who  had  been  pretor  in 
the  preceding  year,  now  stood  for  the  same  office,  entered 
into  a  concert  with  Pompey,  and,  notwithstanding  their 
mutual  jealousy  of  each  other,  they  joined  their  interests, 
and  were  elected  together. 

Under  the  administration  of  these  officers  some  important 
laws  are  said  to  have  passed,  although  most  of  the  particulars 
have  escaped  the  notice  of  historians.  It  appears  that 
Pompey  now  began  to  pay  his  court  to  the  people;  and, 
thpugh  he  professed  to  support  the  authority  of  the  senate, 
wished  to  have  it  in  his  power,  on  occasion,  to  take  the 
sense  of  what  was  called  the  assembly  of  the  people  against 
them,  or,  in  other  words,  to  counteract  them  by  means  of 
».he  popular  tumults  which  bore  this  name. 

The  tribunes  Quinctius  and  Palicanus,  had  for  two  yea.* 
successively  laboured  to  remove  the  bars  which  had,  by  the 
constitution  of  Sylla,  been  opposed  to  the  tribunitian  power. 
They  had  been  strenuously  resisted  by  Lucullus  and  others, 
who  held  the  office  of  consul,  during  the  dependence  of  th« 
questions  which  had  arisen  on  that  subject.  By  the  favour 
of  Pompey  and  Crassus,  however,  the  tribunes  obtained  a 
restitution  of  the  privileges  which  their  predecessors,  in 
former  times  of  the  republic,  had  so  often  abused;  and 
together  with  the  security  of  their  sacred  and  inviolable 

*  u.  c.  633. 


248  HISTORx   OF  THE  [B.  III. 

character,  and  their  negative  in  all  the  proceedings  of  the 
state,  they  were  again  permitted  to  propose  laws,  and  to 
harangue  the  people. 

Under  this  consulate,  and  probably  with  the  encourage- 
ment of  Pompey,  the  law  of  Sylla,  respecting  the  judicatures, 
was,  upon  the  motion  of  the  pretor,  Aurelius  Cotta,  like- 
wise repealed ;  and  it  was  permitted  to  the  pretors  to  draught 
the  judges  in  equal  numbers  from  the  senate,  the  knights, 
and  a  certain  class  of  the  people,  whose  description  is  not 
clearly  ascertained.  Thia  was,  perhaps,  a  just  correction  of 
Sylla's  partiality  to  the  nobles ;  and  if  it  had  not  been 
accompanied  by  the  former  act,  which  restored  the  tribuni- 
tian  power,  might  have  merited  applause. 

In  the  mean  time,  corruption  advanced  among  all  orders 
of  men  with  a  hasty  pace ;  in  the  lower  ranks,  contempt  of 
government;  among  the  higher,  covetousness  and  pro- 
digality, with  an  ardour  for  lucrative  provinces,  and  the 
opportunities  of  extortion  and  flagrant  abuse.  As  the  offices 
of  state  at  Rome  began  to  be  coveted  with  a  view  to  the 
appointments  abroad,  with  which  they  were  followed, 
Pompey,  in  order  to  display  his  own  disinterestedness,  with 
an  oblique  reproof  to  the  nobility  who  aspired  to  magistracy 
with  such  mercenary  views,  took  a  formal  oath  in  entering 
on  his  consulate,  that  he  would  not,  at  the  expiration  of  his 
office,  accept  of  any  government  in  the  provinces ;  and  by 
this  example  of  generosity  in  himself,  and  by  the  censure  it 
implied  of  others,  obtained  great  credit  with  the  people,  and 
furnished  his  emissaries,  who  were  ever  busy  in  sounding 
his  praise,  with  a  pretence  for  enhancing  his  merit. 

Pompey,  in  the  administration  of  his  consulate,  had  pro- 
cured the  revival  of  the  censors1  functions.  These  had  been 
intermitted  about  sixteen  years,  and  the  attempts  which 
were  now  made  to  revive  them,  though  in  appearance 
successful,  could  not  give  them  a  permanent  footing  in  the 
commonwealth.  The  public  was  arrived  at  a  state  in 
which  men  complain  of  evils,  but  cannot  endure  their 
remedies. 

L.  Gellius  Poplicola  and  Cn.  Cornelius  Lentulus,  being 
intrusted,  in  the  capacity  of  censors,  to  make  up  the  rolls  of 
the  people,  mustered  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
citizens.  They  purged  the  senate  with  great  severity, 
having  expunged  sixty-four  members  from  the  rolls. 

Crassus  and  Pompey,  although  they  entered  on  office  in 
concert,  differed  in  the  course  of  their  administration,  on  sub- 
jects which  are  not  particularly  mentioned.  As  Crassus  was 
In  possession  of  great  wealth,  he  endeavoured,  by  his  liber- 
alitiee,  to  vie  with  the  imposing  state  and  popular  arts  of  hia 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  249 

colleague.  He  gave  an  entertainment  to  the  whole  people 
at  ten  thousand  tables,  and  distributed  three  months'  pro- 
vision of  corn.  To  account  for  his  being  able  to  court  the 
people  in  this  manner,  it  is  said  that  he  inherited  from  his 
father  a  fortune  of  three  hundred  talents,  or  near  sixty 
thousand  pounds ;  that  he  increased  it,  by  purchasing  at  a 
ow  price  the  estates  of  those  who  were  proscribed  in  the  late 
troubles,  and  by  letting  for  hire  the  labour  of  a  numerous 
family  of  slaves,  instructed  in  various  arts  and  callings ;  and 
was  become  so  rich  by  these  means,  that  when,  some  time 
after  this  date,  he  was  about  to  depart  for  Asia,  and  conse- 
crated the  tenth  part  of  his  estate  to  Hercules,  he  was  found 
to  possess  seven  thousand  one  hundred  talents,  or  about  one 
million  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  and  three 
hundred  pounds  sterling. 

Pompey  at  the  expiration  of  his  year  in  the  consulship,  in 
observance  of  the  oath  he  had  taken,  remained  at  Rome  in 
a  private  station ;  but,  agreeably  to  the  character  he  formerly 
bore,  maintained  the  reserve  and  stateliness  of  a  person 
raised  above  the  condition  of  a  citizen,  or  even  above  that  of 
the  first  senators  of  consular  rank.  Other  candidates  for  con- 
sideration and  public  honours  endeavoured,  by  their  talents 
and  eloquence,  to  make  themselves  necessary  to  those  who 
had  affairs  to  solicit  with  the  public,  or  even  to  make  them- 
selves feared.  They  laboured  to  distinguish  themselves  as 
able  advocates  or  formidable  accusers  at  the  bar,  and  to 
strengthen  their  interest  by  procuring  the  support  of  those 
to  whom  their  talents  either  were  or  might  become  of 
importance.  Pompey,  on  the  contrary,  stating  himself  as 
an  exception  to  common  rules,  avoided  the  courts  of  justice 
and  other  places  of  ordinary  resort,  did  not  commit  his 
talents  to  the  public  judgment,  nor  present  his  person  to 
the  public  view ;  took  the  respect  that  was  paid  to  him  as 
a  right ;  seldom  went  abroad,  and  never  without  a  nu- 
merous train  of  attendants. 

The  consulate  of  Crassus  and  Pompey  was  succeeded  by 
that  of  Q.  Hortensius  and  Q.  Caecilius  Metellus.*  In  the 
distribution  of  provinces,  Crete,  with  the  command  of  an 
armament  to  be  sent  into  that  island,  fell  to  the  lot  of  Hor- 
tensius ;  but  he  declined  to  accept  of  this  government ;  leav- 
ing it,  together  with  the  command  of  the  army  that  was  to 
be  employed  in  the  reduction  of  the  island,  to  his  colleague 
Metellus,  who  afterwards  received  the  appellation  of  Creti- 
CU9,  from  the  distinction  he  acquired  in  this  service. 

The  Cretans,  and  most  of  the  other  seafaring  people  on 


250  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B,  III. 

the  confines  of  Asia  and  Europe,  had  in  the  late  war  taken 
an  active  part  against  the  Romans.  They  had,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Mithridates,  and  by  their  own  disposition  to  rapine 
and  piracy,  been  led  to  prey  upon  the  traders,  and  upon  the 
carriers  of  the  revenue  that  were  frequently  passing  from 
the  provinces  to  Rome.  The  desire  of  sharing  in  the  profits 
that  were  made  by  this  species  of  war,  had  filled  the  sea 
with  pirates  and  freebooters,  against  whom  the  Romans 
sent  forth  a  succession  of  officers,  with  extensive  commands, 
on  the  coasts  both  of  Asia  and  Europe.  Among  others,  M. 
Antonius  had  been  employed  in  this  service,  and  was  ac- 
cused of  abusing  his  power,  by  oppressing  the  Sicilians  and 
the  people  of  other  maritime  provinces,  who  were  innocent 
of  the  crimes  he  was  employed  to  repress.  In  a  descent  on 
the  island  of  Crete  he  was  defeated  and  killed,  and  left  the 
Romans  engaged  with  the  people  of  that  island  in  a  war 
which  was  thought  to  require  the  presence  of  one  of  the 
consuls.  The  lot,  as  has  been  observed,  fell  on  Hortensius, 
but  was  transferred  to  his  colleague  Metellus. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs,  and  such  the  destination  of 
the  Roman  officers,  when  Lucullus  received  from  Tigranes 
a  return  to  the  demand  which  he  made  of  having  Mithri- 
dates delivered  up  as  his  prisoner.*  This  prince,  to  verify 
the  state  and  title  which  he  assumed  of  King  of  Kings, 
affected,  when  he  mounted  on  horseback,  to  have  four  cap- 
tive sovereigns  to  walk  by  his  stirrup,  and  obliged  them,  on 
other  occasions,  to  perform  every  office  of  menial  duty  and 
servile  attendance  on  his  person.  Lucullus,  instead  of  the 
style  which  was  affected  by  this  prince,  had  accosted  him  in 
his  letter  only  with  the  simple  title  of  king,  and  threatened, 
that,  on  his  demand  being  refused,  he  would  not  fail,  with 
a  mighty  army  for  that  purpose,  to  pursue  his  fugitive 
wherever  he  was  received  and  protected.  Tigranes,  un- 
used even  to  a  plain  address,  much  less  to  insult  and  threats, 
heard  this  demand  with  real  indignation;  and  gave  for 
answer  that  he  would  not  deliver  up  the  unfortunate  king, 
and  that,  if  the  Romans  invaded  his  territories,  he  knew 
how  to  defend  them. 

Upon  receiving  this  answer  from  Tigranes,  Lucullus 
resolved  without  delay  to  advance  into  Armenia.  With 
hasty  marches  he  arrived  on  the  Euphrates,  and  passed  that 
river  before  the  enemy  were  aware  of  his  approach. 
Tigranes  treated  the  first  reports  of  his  coming  with  con- 
tempt, and  ordered  the  person  who  presumed  to  bring  such 
accounts  to  be  punished.  But  being  assured,  beyond  a 

U.  C.  685 


CH.  II.  ROMAN  BEFUBUC.  251 

possibility  of  doubt,  that  an  enemy  was  actually  on  his 
territories,  he  sent  Metrodorus,  one  of  his  generals,  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  force,  with  orders  to  take  alive  the 
person  of  Lucullus  whom  he  was  desirous  to  see,  but  not  to 
spare  a  man  of  the  whole  army  besides. 

With  these  orders,  the  Armenian  general  set  out  on  the 
road  by  which  the  Romans  were  supposed  to  advance,  and 
hastened  to  meet  them.  Both  armies,  on  the  march,  had 
intelligence  of  each  other.  Lucullus  halted,  began  to 
intrench,  and  detached  three  thousand  men,  to  observe  the 
Armenians,  and  amuse  them  till  liis  works  were  completed. 
But  such  was  the  incapacity  and  presumption  of  the  enemy, 
that  an  entire  victory  was  gained  with  but  a  part  of 
the  Roman  array ;  Metrodorus  himself  being  killed,  his 
army  was  put  to  the  rout  with  great  slaughter. 

After  this  victory,  Lucullus,  in  order  the  more  effectually 
to  alarm  and  to  distract  the  Armenians,  separated  his  army 
into  three  divisions.  With  one  he  intercepted  and  dispersed 
a  body  of  Arabs,  who  were  marching  to  join  the  king;  with 
another  he  surprised  Tigranes  himself,  in  a  disadvantageous 
situation,  and  obliged  him  to  fly  with  the  loss  of  his  attend- 
ants, equipage,  and  the  baggage  of  his  army.  At  the  head 
of  the  third  division  he  himself  advanced  to  Tigranocerta, 
and  invested  that  place. 

After  these  disasters  Tigranes  mustered  an  army  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  heavy  armed  foot,  fifty- 
five  thousand  horse,  and  twenty  thousand  archers  and 
slingers.  He  was  advised  by  Mithridates  not  to  risk  a 
battle,  but  to  lay  waste  the  country  from  which  the  Ro- 
mans were  supplied  with  provisions,  oblige  them  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Tigranocerta,  and  repass  the  Euphrates,  with 
the  disadvantage  of  having  an  enemy  still  in  force  to  hang 
on  their  rear.  This  counsel  of  Mithridates,  founded  in 
the  experience  he  had  so  dearly  bought,  was  ill  suited 
to  the  presumption  of  the  king.  He  therefore  advanced 
towards  the  Romans,  impatient  to  relieve  his  capital  and 
the  principal  seat  of  his  magnificence.  Lucullus,  trusting 
to  the  specimens  he  had  already  seen  of  the  Armenian  forces, 
ventured  to  divide  his  army,  and,  without  raising  the  siege, 
marched  with  one  division  to  meet  this  numerous  enemy. 
In  the  action  that  followed,  the  Armenian  horse  being  in 
the  van,  were  defeated  and  driven  back  on  the  foot  of 
their  own  army,  threw  them  into  confusion,  and  gave 
the  Romans  an  easy  victory,  in  which,  with  very  incon- 
siderable loss  to  themselves,  they  made  a  great  slaughter 
of  the  enemy. 

Tijrranocerta  immediately  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  con* 


252  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

queror.  The  spoil  was  great ;  Tigranes  having  collected 
here,  as  at  the  principal  seat  of  his  vanity,  the  wealth  and 
magnificence  of  his  court. 

Mithridates,  who  had  been  present  in  the  late  action, 
met  the  king  of  Armenia  in  his  flight;  and,  having  en- 
deavoured to  re-establish  his  equipage  and  his  retinue  by  a 
participation  of  his  own,  exhorted  him  not  to  despair,  but 
to  assemble  a  new  force,  and  to  persist  in  the  war.  They 
agreed,  at  the  same  time,  on  an  embassy  to  the  king  of 
Parthia,  with  offers  of  reconciliation  on  the  part  of  Tigranes, 
who,  at  this  time,  was  at  war  with  that  prince,  and  of  satis- 
faction on  the  subjects  in  contest  between  them,  provided 
the  Parthians  would  join  in  the  confederacy  against  the 
Romans.  To  their  representations  Arsaces  seemed  to  give 
a  favourable  ear,  agreed  to  the  proposed  confederacy,  on 
condition  that  Mesopotamia,  which  he  had  formerly  claimed, 
was  now  delivered  up  to  him.  At  the  same  time  he  en- 
deavoured to  amuse  Lucullus  with  offers  of  alliance  against 
the  king  of  Armenia. 

In  this  conjuncture  it  probably  was,  that  Lucullus,  in  the 
apprehension  of  being  superseded  and  deprived  of  the  hon- 
our of  terminating  the  war,  made  his  report  that  the  king- 
dom of  Mithridates  was  now  in  his  possession,  and  that  the 
kingdom  of  Tigranes  was  also  in  his  power ;  and  therefore, 
that  the  senate  should,  instead  of  a  successor,  send  the 
usual  commission  to  settle  the  form  of  the  province,  and  to 
make  a  proper  establishment  to  preserve  the  territories 
which  he  had  already  subdued.  But  after  these  represen- 
tations were  despatched,  it  became  apparent  that  the  king 
of  Parthia  had  deceived  him  with  false  professions,  Lucul- 
lus proposed  to  carry  the  war  into  Parthia  ;  and  for  this  pur- 
pose, ordered  the  legions  that  were  stationed  in  Pontus  to 
march  without  delay  into  Armenia. 

These  troops,  however,  already  tired  of  the  service,  and 
suspecting  that  they  were  intended  for  some  distant  and 
hazardous  enterprise,  broke  out  into  open  mutiny,  and  re- 
fused to  obey  their  officers.  This  example  was  soon  after- 
wards followed  by  other  parts  of  the  army ;  and  the  general 
was  obliged  to  confine  his  operations  Jo  the  kingdom  of 
Armenia,  where  he  forced  Tigranes  once  more  to  hazard 
a  battle,  and  obtained  a  victory.  He  also  fell  down  on 
Mesopotamia,  and,  after  a  short  siege,  made  himself  master 
of  Nisibis,  a  rich  city  in  that  territory,  where,  with  other 
captives,  he  took  Guras,  brother  to  the  king,  who  command- 
ed in  the  place. 

Here,  however,  a  report  being  spread  in  the  Roman  army, 
that  their  general  was  soon  to  be  recalled,  he,  from  that 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  253 

moment,  lost  the  small  remains  of  his  authority  ;  the 
legions  deserted  their  colours,  and  treated,  with  contempt 
or  indifference,  all  the  attempts  he  made  to  retain  them. 
This  state  of  affairs,  soon  became  known  to  Mithridates.and 
filled  him  with  hopes  of  being  able  to  recover  his  kingdom. 
That  he  might  not  suffer  the  opportunity  to  escape  him,  he 
fell  back  into  Pontus,  with  what  troops  he  had  then  under  liis 
command,  and,  by  his  authority  and  influence  over  liis  own 
subjects,  soon  augmented  his  force,  penetrated  among  the 
scattered  quarters  of  the  Romans,  who  were  left  to  occupy 
the  country,  and  separately  surprised  or  destroyed  consi 
derable  bodies  of  their  troops. 

Lucullus,  being  informed  of  what  had  passed  in  Pontus, 
had  influence  enough  with  the  army  to  put  them  in  motion 
towards  that  kingdom  with  some  appearance  of  order ;  but 
before  his  arrival,  Mithridates  had  shut  up  Fabius  in  Cabira, 
and  defeated  Triarius  with  considerable  slaughter.  In  this 
last  defeat  the  Romans  lost  twenty-four  legionary  tribunes, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  centurions,  and  seven  thousand  men. 

It  was  not  doubted,  however,  that  Lucullus,  on  his  arrival, 
if  the  army  had  been  disposed  to  act  under  him,  would  have 
been  able  soon  to  retrieve  his  affairs :  but  he  was  at  this 
time  superseded ;  and  the  men  of  his  army,  in  great  num- 
bers, actually  took  the  route  of  Cappadocia  on  their  return 
to  Italy. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  commissioners, 
who,  upon  the  report  of  Lucullus,  had  been  sent  by  the 
senate  to  settle  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  in  the  form  of  a 
province,  actually  arrived. 

The  Roman  army  in  Asia,  as  a  prelude  to  their  present 
defection,  had  been  taught  to  upbraid  the  parsimony  of  their 
own  general  by  a  comparison  with  the  liberality  and  munifi- 
cence of  Pompey,  and  in  this  comparison  showed  a  disposi- 
tion to  change  their  leader,  which,  it  is  not  doubted,  Pompey, 
by  his  intrigues,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  agents,  greatly  en- 
couraged. He  could  in  reality  ill  brook  the  private  station 
to  which,  by  his  late  oath,  in  entering  on  the  consulate,  he 
lhad  bound  himself.  He  studied  to  support  the  puMic 
bpinion  of  his  importance,  and  wished  for  an  occasion  to 
derive  some  advantage  from  it;  but  nothing  had  occurred  t.u 
two  years  that  was  worthy  of  the  high  distinction  to  whit-li 
he  aspired.  The  command  in  Asia  bo  coveted  the  more, 
that  it  was  secured  to  Lucullus  by  the  splendour  of  his  o\\  M 
successes,  and  by  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  senate 
and  nobles,  who  knew  his  faithful  attachment  to  their  onl<  r, 
and  his  fidelity  to  the  aristoeratiotl  part  of  the  constitution. 
'The  difficulties  in  that  service  won-  over,  and  nothing  but 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  Ill 

the  glory  of  terminating  the  war  remained.  Meantime  a 
project  was  started,  which  was  likely  to  place  him  near  to 
this  scene  of  action,  and  to  facilitate  his  removal,  if  judged 
expedient,  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  Pontus. 

The  pirates  still  continued  to  infest  the  seas,  and  were 
daily  rising  in  their  presumption,  and  increasing  in  their 
strength.  All  the  coasts  of  the  empire  were  open  to  their 
depredations.  The  Roman  magistrates  were  made  prison- 
ers in  passing  to  and  from  their  provinces ;  and  citizens  or 
every  denomination,  when  taken  by  them,  were  forced  to 
pay  ransom,  kept  in  captivity,  or  put  to  death.  The  sup- 
ply of  provisions  to  Italy  was  rendered  extremely  difficult, 
and  the  price  in  proportion  enhanced.  Every  report  too  on 
these  subjects  was  exaggerated  by  the  intrigues  of  Pompey, 
who  perceived,  in  this  occasion  of  public  distress,  the  object 
of  a  new  and  extraordinary  commission  to  himself. 

Frequent  complaints  having  been  made,  and  frequent  de- 
liberations held  on  this  subject  in  the  senate,  Gabinius,  one 
of  the  tribunes,  at  last  proposed,  that  some  officer  of  consu- 
lar rank  should  be  vested,  during  three  years,  with  absolute 
powers,  in  order  to  put  an  effectual  stop  to  these  outrages. 
As  Gabinius  was  known  to  be  in  concert  with  Pompey,  the 
design  of  the  proposition  was  manifest  ;  it  was  received  in 
the  senate  with  great  aversion  and  withdrawn. 

A  report  was  immediately  spread  in  the  city,  that  the 
person  of  the  tribune  Gabinius  had  been  actually  violated ; 
multitudes  assembled  at  the  doors  of  the  senate-house,  and 
great  disorders  were  likely  to  follow  ;  it  was  judged  pru- 
dent for  the  senate  to  adjourn  ;  and  the  members,  dreading 
some  insult  from  the  populace,  retired  by  separate  ways  to 
their  own  houses.  Gabinius,  without  farther  regard  to  the 
dissent  of  the  senate,  prepared  to  carry  his  motion  to  the 
people. 

On  the  day  on  which  the  question  on  the  motion  of  Gabi- 
nius was  to  be  put  to  the  people,  Pompey  appeared  in  the 
Comitium ;  and,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  speech  which  is 
ascribed  to  him,  employed  a  dissimulation  and  artifice  some- 
what too  gross  even  for  a  popular  assembly.  He  took  oc- 
casion to  thank  the  people  for  the  honours  he  had  so  often 
received;  but  complained,  that  having  already  toiled  so 
much  in  the  public  service,  he  still  should  be  destined  for 
new  labours. 

To  this  Gabinius  replied  by  observing,  that  it  was  agree- 
able to  the  character  of  this  great  man,  neither  to  desire 
command,  nor  rashly  to  accept  of  what  was  pressed  upon 
him.  "They  who  are  best  able  to  surmount  difficulties," 
he  said,  "are  likewise  least  inclined  to  engage  in  them. 


CH.  II.]  KO.WAN  unruuLic.  255 

But  it  is  your  business,  fellow  citi/ons,  to  consider,  not  what 
is  agreeable  to  I'ompey,  but  what  is  necessary  to  your  own 
affairs;  not  to  regard  tho-e  \\-ho  court  you  for  oilices,  but 
those  who  are  tit  to  discharge  the  duties  of  them.  I  wish 
we  had  many  persons  of  this  description,  besides  the  man 
I  have  proposed  to  your  choice.  But  wishes  cannot  avail 
us  ;  we  must  take  men  as  they  are  ;  we  cannot  create  them. 
If  there  be  but  one  man  formed  for  our  purpose,  with 
knowledge,  experience,  and  good  fortune,  we  must  lay 
hold  of  him,  and  sei/e  him,  if  necessary,  even  by  force." 

When  Gabinius  had  finished  his  speech,  Tribellius, 
another  of  the  tribunes,  attempted  to  reply  ;  but  such  a  cla- 
mour was  immediately  raised  by  the  multitude  that  he 
could  not  be  heard.  lie  then,  by  the  authority  of  his  ollice, 
forbade  the  question;  and  Gabinius  instantly  proposed  t«> 
have  the  sense  of  the  tribes,  whether  Tribellius  had  not  for- 
feited the  character  of  tribune?  Seventeen  tribes  were  ot 
this  opinion,  and  the  eighteenth  would  have  made  the  ma- 
jority, when  Tribellius  thought  proper  to  withdraw  Ins 
negative.  In  this  state  of  uttairs,  Gabinius,  trusting  that, 
in  the  present  humour  of  the  people,  no  man  would  dare  to 
oppose  the  measure,  and  wishing  to  increase  the  honour  ot 
Pompey's  nomination,  by  the  seeming  concurrence  of  some 
of  the  more  respectable  citizens,  called  upon  Catulus,  who 
was  then  first  on  the  roll  of  the  senate,  to  deliver  his  opinion, 
and  led  him  up  into  the  rostra  for  this  purpose. 

This  citizen,  by  the  equability  of  his  conduct,  and  by  his 
moderation  in  support  of  the  aristocracy  had  great  autho- 
rity even  with  the  opposite  party.  He  began  his  speech  to 
the  people  with  professions  of  public  /eal,  which  obliged 
him  to  deliver  with  plainness  what  he  thought  was  condu- 
cive to  their  good,  and  which  entitled  him  to  a  deliberate 
hearing,  before  they  should  pronounce  on  the  merits  of 
what  he  was  about  to  deliver.  "  If  you  listen,"  he  said, 
"something  may  still  be  ottered  to  inform  your  judgment ; 
if  you  break  forth  again  into  disorders  and  tu'imlts,  your 
capacity  and  good  understanding  will  avail  you  nothing. 
1  must  begin  with  declaring  my  opinion,  that  powers 
M>  great,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  as  are  no\v  proposed  for 
I'ompey,  should  not  b."  committed  to  any  single  citi/.en. 

"The  precedent  is  contrary  to  law,  ami  in  itself,  in  the 
highest  degree,  dangerous  to  the  state.  Whence  came  tho 
usurpation:-,  of  Marius,  but  from  the  habit  of  continued 
command;  from  lii>  being  put  at  the  head  of  every  army, 
intrusted  with  every  war,  and  no  los  than  six  tim*1-  re- 
elected  consul  in  the  space  of  a  few  years  ?  What  intlamed 
to  such  a  degree  the  arrogant  spirit  of  Sylla,  but  the  con- 


J56  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  I1L 

tinual  command  of  armies,  and  the  contininl  power  of  dic- 
tator? 

"  I  speak  not  with  any  particular  reference  to  Pompey ;  I 
speak  what  the  law  requires,  and  what  I  am  sure  is  for 
your  good.  If  high  office  and  command  be  an  honour, 
every  one  who  has  pretensions  should  enjoy  them  in  his 
turn ;  if  they  be  a  load  or  a  burden,  every  one  ought  to 
bear  his  part.  These  are  the  laws  of  justice  and  of  republi- 
can government.  By  observing  them,  republics  have  an 
advantage  over  every  other  state.  By  employing  many 
men  in  their  turns,  they  educate  and  train  many  citizens 
for  the  public  service,  and  have  numbers  amongst  whom 
they  may  choose  the  fittest  to  serve  on  every  particular 
emergence.  But  if  we  always  employ  the  same  person  in 
every  public  service,  we  shall  soon  have  no  other  person  to 
employ.  Why  were  we  so  much  at  a  loss  for  experienced 
commanders  when  Sertorius  appeared  to  threaten  Italy 
with  an  invasion  ?  Because  command,  for  a  considerable 
time  before  that  period,  had  been  engrossed  by  a  few,  and 
those  few  alone  had  any  experience.  Although  Therefore, 
I  have  the  highest  opinion  of  Pompey's  abilities  tor  this  ser- 
vice, I  must  prefer  to  his  pretensions  the  public  utility  and 
the  express  declaration  of  the  laws. 

"  You  annually  elect  consuls  and  pretors ;  to  what  pur- 
pose ?  to  serve  the  state  ?  or  to  carry  for  a  few  months  the 
ensigns  of  power  ?  If  to  serve  the  state,  why  name  private 
persons  with  unprecedented  commissions  to  perform  what 
your  magistrates  are  either  fit  to  perform,  or  are  not  fit  to 
have  been  elected  ? 

"  If  there  be  any  uncommon  emergency  that  require* 
more  than  the  ordinary  exertions  of  government,  the  con- 
stitution has  provided  an  expedient.  You  may  name  a 
dictator,  whose  authority  is  confined  within  the  limits  of 
Italy,  where  alone  the  vitals  of  the  state  can  be  exposed 
to  any  great  or  pressing  attack  ;  and  limited  to  six  months, 
a  sufficient  period  in  which  to  remove  the  cause  of  any  eud- 
den  alarm. 

"  If  you  bestow  unlimited  power  by  sea  and  by  land  on  a 
single  man,  in  what  manner  is  he  to  exercise  his  power  ? 
Not  by  himself  in  person,  for  he  cannot  be  everywhere 
present  ;  he  must  have  lieutenants  or  substitutes  who  act 
under  his  orders.  If  so,  then  why  may  not  those  who  are 
to  act  be  officers  named  by  you,  and  not  by  any  intermediate 
person ;  accountable  to  you,  and  not  to  another  ;  and  in  the 
dangers  they  run,  animated  with  the  prospect  of  honour  to 
themselves,  not  to  a  person  who  is  unnecessarily  interposed 
between  them  and  their  country  ?  Gabinius  proposes  to 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  257 

Invest  this  officer  with  authority  to  name  many  lieutenants  ; 
I  pray  you  consider,  whether  these  officers  should  (iep.-n  1 
upon  any  intermediate  person,  or  upon  yourselves  alone  ? 
and  whether  there  be  sufficient  cause  to  suspend  all  the 
legal  powers,  and  to  supersede  all  the  magistrates  in  the 
commonwealth,  and  all  the  governors  of  provinces  in  every 
part  of  your  empire,  in  order  to  make  war  on  pinit.es  ?" 

The  audience  revered,  for  a  moment,  the  candour  and 
ability  of  this  eminent  citizen,  but  could  not  withstand  the 
art**  of  Pompey,  and  the  tide  of  popularity  which  then  ran 
so  much  in  his  favour.  The  debate  was  speedily  rlo-ed, 
and,  on  collecting  the  votes,  a  decree  was  passed  to  vest 
Pompey  with  the  supreme  command  over  all  the  fleets  and 
armies  of  the  republic,  in  every  sea  without  distinction  or 
limit,  and  on  every  coast  within  four  hundred  stadia,  or 
fifty  miles  of  the  shore.  This  commission  took  place  in 
Italy,  and  extended  throughout  every  province,  during 
three  years  from  the  time  of  passing  the  edict. 

Upon  the  publication  of  an  edict  investing  an  officer  of 
such  renown  with  so  high  powers  for  restoring  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  seas,  corn  and  every  other  article  of  importation 
at  Rome,  considerably  fell  in  their  price.  The  friends  of 
Pompey  already  triumphed  in  the  success  of  their  measure, 
and  he  himself  soon  after,  notwithstanding  the  meanness  of 
the  enemy  opposed  to  him,  gained  much  credit  by  the  rapid, 
decisive,  and  effectual  measures  he  took  to  obtain  the  end 
of  his  appointment.  Although  it  was  the  middle  of  winter, 
a  season  too  rough,  even  in  the  Mediterranean,  for  such 
shipping  as  was  then  in  use,  he  gave  orders  to  arm  and  put 
to  sea  as  many  vessels  as  could  be  collected  on  every  part 
of  the  coast.  In  a  little  time  he  had  returns  of  two  hundred 
and  seventy  galleys  fit  for  service,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  foot,  and  four  thousand  horse  embodied  on  the 
coasts  to  which  his  command  extended.  That  the  pirates 
might  be  everywhere  attacked  at  once,  and  find  no  rei'uge. 
by  changing  their  usual  places  of  retreat,  he  divided  the 
maritime  parts  of  the  empire  into  separate  districts,  ap- 
pointed lieutenants  with  full  powers  in  cadi,  aligned  their 
stations,  and  allotted  their  quotas  of  shipping  and  troops 
He  himself,  with  a  squadron  of  sixty  ships,  proposed  to  visit 
every  quarter,  and  to  give  his  presence  where  it  should  be 
most  required.  He  began  with  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Gaul, 
and  the  seas  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica ;  and  in  passing  from 
thence,  while  the  fleet  coasted  round  the  peninsula  of  Italy, 
he  himself  went  on  shore,  and  travelled  by  land  to  meet 
them  at  Brundusium.  In  this  journey,  upon  his  approach 
to  Rome,  he  enjoyed,  in  all  respects,  the  state  of  a  gf  tot 


258  II  STORY  OF  THE  [U.  111. 

monaivh  ;  and  wa,<  courted  by  multitudes,  who  \veut  forth 
to  receive  him. 

The  fleet  being-  arrived  at  Brundusium,  Porapey  hastened 
to  join  it,  and  from  thence  passed  by  the  stations  of  his 
several  lieutenants  in  the  seaports  of  Macedonia  and 
Greece,  to  the  coasts  of  Pamphylia  and  Cilicia,  which  were 
the  principal  resort  of  the  pirates.  Such  of  these  banditti  as 
ne  took  in  his  way,  were  treated  with  mildness  ;  and  this 
circumstance,  together  with  the  great  preparations  which 
were  reported  from  every  quarter  to  be  making  against 
them,  with  the  small  hopes  they  had  of  being  able  to  escape, 
induced  them,  in  great  numbers,  to  surrender  themselves. 

By  these  means  the  war  was  finished  about  the  middle  of 
summer,  six  months  after  the  nomination  of  Pompey  to  this 
command.  In  that  time  seventy-two  galleys  were  sunk, 
three  hundred  and  six  were  taken,  and  a  hundred  and 
twenty  piratical  harbours  or  strongholds  on  shore  were 
destroyed.  Ten  thousand  of  the  pirates  were  killed  in 
action,  and  twenty  thousand,  who  had  surrendered  them- 
selves, remained  prisoners  at  the  end  of  the  war.  These 
Pompey,  having  sutliciently  deprived  of  the  means  of  re- 
turning to  their  former  way  of  life,  transplanted  to  different 
parts  of  the  continent,  where  the  late  or  present  troubles, 
by  thinning  the  inhabitants,  had  made  room  for  them.  Upon 
this  occasion  he  repeopled  the  city  of  Soli  in  Cilicia,  which 
had  been  lately  laid  waste,  and  forcibly  emptied  of  its  inha- 
bitants by  Tigranes,  to  replenish  his  newly  established  capi- 
tal of  Tiifranocerta  in  Armenia. 

Whilst  Pompey  was  thus  employed  in  disposing  of  the 
pirates  on  the  coast  of  Cilicia,  he  received  a  message  from 
Lappa  in  the  island  of  Crete,  now  besieged  by  Metellus, 
intimating  that  the  people  of  this  place,  were  willing  to 
surrender  to  Pompey.  This  sort  of  preference  was  one  of 
the  temptations  which  Pompey  was  unable  to  resist;  he 
accordingly,  without  consulting  with  Metellus,  sent  an 
officer  and  received  the  surrender  of  Lappa. 

Metellus  nevertheless  continued  the  siege,  forced  the 
town  to  surrender,  and  threatening  to  treat  Pompey 's  o!h". 
cer  as  a  rebel,  obliged  him  to  leave  the  island.  The  senate, 
without  otherwise  deciding  the  controversy  which  was 
likely  to  arise  on  this  subject,  afterwards  acknowledged 
Metellus  as  the  conqueror  of  Crete,  and  decreed  him  a 
triumph  in  that  capacity. 

The  dispute,  however,  at  this  time  might  have  led  to 
disagreeable  consequences,  if  Lucullus  had  not  appeared  to 
Pompey  a  more  formidable  rival  in  power  and  consideration 
than  Metellus.  and  the  war  in  Pontus  and  Armenia  likely 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  259 

to  furnish  a  more  ample  field  of  glory  than  the  destruc- 
tion of  pirates. 

Acilius  Glabrio,  the  proconsul  appointed  to  succeed  in 
the  command  of  the  Roman  army  there,  he.r;ing  the  bad 
state  of  affairs,  stopped  short  in  Bithynia,  ana  even  refused 
to  furnish  Lucullus  with  the  reinforcements  he  had  brought 
from  Italy.  In  these  circumstances  the  province  of  Asia, 
likely  to  become  a  principal  source  of  revenue  to  the  com- 
monwealth, was  in  imminent  danger  of  being  wrested  from 
their  hands.  The  friends  of  Fompey  seized  the  opportu- 
nity to  obtain  a  farther  enlargement  of  Ids  powers.  Mani- 
iius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  moved  the  people  to  extend  I. is 
commission  to  the  provinces  of  Phrygia,  Bithynia,  Cappa- 
docia,  and  Pontus ;  and  of  course  to  commit  the  war  in 
Armenia  and  Pontus  to  his  direction.  This  motion  was 
strenuously  opposed  by  Catulus,  Hortensius,  and  all  the 
principal  members  of  the  senate.  It  was  supported  by  Mar- 
cus Tullius  Cicero  and  by  Caius  Julius  Ca;sar,  who  both 
intended,  on  this  occasion,  to*  court  the  popuiar  party,  by 
espousing  the  cause  of  a  person  so  much  in  favour  with  the 
txiople. 

With  such  able  advocates,  in  a  cause  to  which  the  people 
were  already  so  well  disposed,  the  interest  of  Pompey 
could  not  miscarry  ;  and  an  addition  was  accordingly  made 
to  ms  former  commission,  by  which  he  became  in  reality 
sovereign  of  the  fairest  part  of  the  empire.  Upon  the  arri- 
val of  this  news  in  Cilicia,  where  he  then  was,  he  affected 
surprise  and  displeasure.  He  however  despatched  his 
orders  to  all  the  provinces  that  were  now  subjected  to  his 
power;  and,  without  passing  his  mandates  through  the 
liands  of  Lucullus,  summoned  Mithridates,  then  with  an 
army  of  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand  men  on  the 
frontier  of  Pontus,  to  surrender  himself  at  discretion.  This 
prince,  being  in  expectation  of  a  powerful  support  from 
Parthia,  refused  to  listen  to  this  imperious  message,  and 
prepared  for  a  vigorous  resistance. 

Pompey  set  out  for  Pontus,  and  in  his  way  had  an  inter- 
view with  Lucullus,  who  was  then  in  Galatia.  They 
accosted  each  other  at  first  with  laboured  expressions  of 
respect  and  of  compliment  on  their  respective  services,  but 
ended  with  disputes  and  sharp  altercations. 

From  this  conference  Pompey  entered  on  the  command 
with  many  indications  of  animosity  to  Lucullus  ;  he  acted 
in  a  manner  which  seemed  to  justify  the  suspicion  of  his 
having  encouraged  the  late  disorders,  suffering  them  to 
pass  with  impunity  ;  and  treating  with  the  usual  conli.l.'nct* 
even  the  legions  which  had  refused  to  obey  the  orders  <>, 


260  HISTORY  OF  THK  [B.  111. 

their  general.  Finding-  himself,  however,  at  the  head  of 
numerous  and  well-atfected  forces,  both  by  sea  and  by  land, 
he  lined  the  whole  coast  of  the  Kgonn  find  Kuxine  Sea  with 
his  galleys,  and,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  advanced  in 
search  of  the  enemy. 

Mithridates,  upon  the  approach  of  Pompey,  continued 
retiring  before  him  towards  the  Lesser  Armenia,  laid  waste 
the  country  through  which  the  Roman  army  was  to  p.iss, 
and  endeavoured  to  distress  them  by  the  want  of  provisions 
and  forage. 

For  several  days  successively  the  armies  encamped  in 
sight  of  each  other.  Pompey  endeavoured  to  force  an  en- 
gagement ;  Mithridates  to  avoid  it.  The  Roman  general 
at  length,  on  a  certain  day,  doubled  his  march,  passed  the 
enemy's  camp  at  noonday  unobserved,  and  was  actually 
posted  on  their  route,  when  they  began  to  decamp,  as  usual, 
on  the  following  night.  In  the  encounter  which  followed, 
having  all  the  advantages  of  a  surprise,  and  in  the  dark, 
against  an  army  on  its  march,  and  little  accustomed  to  order, 
he  gained  a  decisive  victory,  in  which  he  cut  oft' or  dispersed 
all  the  forces  on  which  the  king  of  Pontus  relied  for  the 
defence  of  his  kingdom. 

Mithridates  escaped  with  a  few  attendants ;  and,  in  this 
extremity,  proposed  to  throw  himself  again  into  the  arms 
of  Tigranes ;  but  was  refused  by  this  prince,  who  was  him- 
self then  attacked  by  a  rebellion  of  his  own  son.  Upon  this 
disappointment  he  fled  to  the  northward,  passing  by  the 
sources  of  the  Euphrates  to  the  kingdom  of  Colchis,  and 
from  thence,  by  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  Euxine,  to  the 
Scythian  Bosphorus,  now  the  straits  of  Cossa,  in  order  to 
take  refuge  in  the  Chersonesus,  or  Crim  Tartary,  at  Panti- 
rapaea,  the  capital  of  a  kingdom  which  he  himself  had  ac- 
quired, and  which  he  had  bestowed  on  Machares,  one  of  his 
sons. 

While  Pompey  was  deliberating  on  the  measures  to  be 
taken  in  these  circumstances,  he  was  invited  by  Tigranes, 
eon  to  the  king  of  Armenia,  then  in  rebellion  against  his 
father,  to  enter  with  his  army  into  that  kingdom,  and  to 
give  judgment  on  the  differences  subsisting  between  the 
father  and  the  son. 

In  consequence  of  this  invitation,  Pompey  marched  into 
Armenia,  joined  the  rebel  prince,  and,  under  pretence  of 
supporting  the  son,  was  about  to  strip  the  father  of  hte 
kingdom,  when  this  monarch,  with  an  excess  of  meanness, 
proportioned  to  the  presumption  with  which  he  had  enjoyed 
his  prosperity,  now  resolved  to  cast  himself  entirely  jipon 
the  victor's  mercy.  For  this  mirnosp  Mo  was  admitted  into 


CH.  H.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  3C1 

Pompey's  presence  ;  and  under  pretence  of  reimbursing1  tha 
expense  of  the  war,  a  sum  of  six  thousand  talents,  or  about 
one  million  one  hundred  and  twenty- eight  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  was  exacted  from  him.  Sophene,  or  the  Lesser 
Armenia,  on  the  right  of  the  Euphrates,  was  allotted  to 
Tigranes  the  son,  reserving  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  together 
with  Cilicia  and  Galatia,  to  the  disposal  of  the  Romans. 

Tigranes  the  father  with  great  submission  acquiesced  in 
this  partition  ;  but  the  son,  being  taken  into  custody,  wa* 
carried  into  Italy,  and  made  a  part  in  the  ornaments  of  the 
victor's  triumph. 

The  Roman  general  now  resumed  the  thouglts  of  pur- 
suing Mithridates  into  his  present  retreat.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  left  Afranius  in  Armenia,  with  a  force  sufficient  to 
secure  his  rear,  and  to  prevent  any  disturbance  on  this  side 
of  the  Euphrates.  He  himself  passed  the  Araxes,  and  win- 
tered on  the  Cyrus,  or  the  Cyrnus,  on  the  confines  of  Alba- 
nia and  Iberia.  In  the  following  summer,  having  defeated 
The  natives  of  those  countries  in  repeated  encounters,  he 
advanced  to  the  mouth  of  the  Phasis,  where  he  was  joined 
•>y  his  fleet,  then  plying  in  the  Euxine  sea,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Servilius.  Here  he  deliberated,  whether  he  should 
nursue  Mithridates  any  farther;  and  took  his  resolution  t« 
return,  and  to  avail  himself,  in  the  best  manner  he  was  able, 
of  the  possessions  which  had  been  abandoned  to  him  by  the 
flight  of  the  king.  With  this  resolution  he  directed  his 
march,  by  the  coast,  back  into  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  ;  and, 
finding  no  resistance,  took  ail  his  measures  as  in  a  con- 
quered province. 

From  Pontus,  Pompey  set  out  for  the  kingdom  of  Syria, 
which  he  now  determined  to  seize  in  behalf  of  the  Romans. 
Lurullus  had  already,  agreeably  to  the  policy  of  his  coun- 
try, and  under  pretence  of  setting  the  Syrians  free,  separated 
their  kingdom  from  the  other  possessions  of  Tigranes ;  and 
was  content  with  restoring  it  to  Antiochus,  the  last  pre- 
tonder  of  the  Macedonian  line,  who  had  lived  eighteen 
y^ars  in  the  greatest  obscurity  in  Cilicia.  Pompey  now 
proposed  to  complete  the  transaction,  by  seizing  for  thfc 
Romans  themselves,  what  the  other  affected  only  to  re>t<»re 
to  the  lawful  owner. 

On  the  march  into  Syria,  Pompey  received  the  submis- 
lion  of  all  the  principalities  or  districts  in  hia  way,  and 
made  the  following  arrangements.  The  Lesser  Armenia, 
once  intended  for  Tigranes  the  son,  he  gave  to  Dejotam-, 
king  of  Halatia,  who  afterwards  was  long  continued  on  the 
frontier  of  the  empire  as  a  faithful  dependant,  and  with  pos- 
sessions which  served  as  a  barrier  against  hostile  invasions 
Y 


£62  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

from  that  quarter.  Faphlag-onia  was  given  to  Attalus  and 
Pylsemenes,  who  were  likewise  liberal  tributaries  to  the 
Roman  officers,  and  vigilant  guards  on  the  frontiers  of  the 
empire.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Damascus,  he  had  many  ap- 
plications from  the  late  subjects  or  dependants  of  the  Syrian 
monarchy ;  among  others,  from  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus, 
two  brothers  contending  for  the  sovereignty  of  Judea,  who 
now  repaired  to  him  for  judgment,  and  requested  the-inter- 
position  of  his  power  in  behalf  of  the  party  he  should  be 
pleased  to  favour. 

Of  these  rivals,  who  were  the  sons  of  Alexander,  late 
high  priest  of  the  Jews,  Hyrcanus  the  elder  had  succeeded 
to  his  mother  Alexandra,  whom  the  father  had  left  his 
immediate  successor  in  the  throne ;  but  was  dispossessed 
by  his  younger  brother  Aristobulus,  who,  being  of  a  more 
active  spirit,  had  formed  a  powerful  faction  among  the 
people. 

Pompey,  on  hearing  the  merits  of  the  question  between 
the  two  brothers,  declared  for  Hyrcanus,  and  advanced 
towards  Jerusalem,  to  execute  the  decree  he  had  passed. 
Upon  his  approach  he  was  again  met  by  Aristobulus,  who 
made  fresh  offers  of  submission,  and  of  a  public  contribution 
in  money ;  and  Pompey  sent  forward  Gabinius  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  place,  in  terms  of  this  submission.  But  upon 
a  report  that  the  gates  were  still  kept  shut  by  the  party  of 
Aristobulus,  who  yet  remained  in  his  camp,  he  ordered 
this  prince  into  confinement,  and  advanced  with  his  army. 

The  citizens  being  divided,  those  who  espoused  the  cause 
of  Hyrcanus  were  willing  to  receive  the  Romans ;  the 
others,  who  were  attached  to  Aristobulus,  retired  into  the 
*emple,  and  broke  down  the  bridge  by  which  this  edifice 
was  joined  to  the  streets,  and  made  every  other  preparation 
to  defend  themselves  to  the  last  extremity. 

The  gates  of  the  city,  in  the  mean  time,  were  thrown 
open  by  the  party  of  .Hyrcanus ;  and  the  Romans  beinj* 
•admitted,  took  possession  of  all  the  principal  stations  with 
in  the  walls,  and  commenced  the  siege  of  the  temple.  This 
building  had  all  the  advantages  of  a  citadel,  buili  on  a 
height,  surrounded  with  natural  precipices,  or  with  a  deep 
ditch,  overhung  with  lofty  battlements  and  towers. 

The  siege  and  defence  were  carried  on  with  mutual 
obstinacy  for  upwards  of  two  months.  At  length  one  of 
the  towers  of  the  temple  was  brought  in  ruin  to  the  ground ; 
mid  Faustus,  the  son  of  Sylla,  at  the  head  of  the  division  he 
commanded,  entered  the  breach,  made  way  for  more  nume- 
rous parties  to  follow,  and  covered  the  avenues  and  porches 
•»f  the  temole  with  the  slain-  The  priests,  who  were  *>veu 


Cn.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  263 

then  employed  in  the  sacrifices,  waited  for  the  enemy  with 
great  composure,  and,  without  discontinuing-  their  duties, 
were  slain  at  the  altars.  Numbers  of  the  people  threw 
themselves  from  the  precipices ;  and  others,  setting-  fire  to 
the  booths  in  which  they  had  lodged  under  the  walls  of  the 
temple,  were  consumed  in  the  flames.  About  twelve  or 
thirteen  thousand  perished  on  this  occasion. 

Pompey,  being-  master  of  the  temple,  and  struck  with  thr 
obstinate  valour  with  which  the  people  had  devoted  them- 
eelves  to  its  preservation,  was  curious  to  see  the  interior 
recess.  This  place,  into  which  no  one  was  ever  admitted 
besides  the  high  priest,  he  supposed  to  contain  the  sacred 
emblems  of  that  power  who  inspired  "his  votaries  with  so  . 
ardent  and  so  unconquerable  a  zeal.  And  he  ventured,  to 
the  equal  consternation  and  horror  of  his  own  party  among 
the  Jews,  as  of  those  who  opposed  him,  to  enter  with  his 
usual  attendance  into  the  Holy  of  Holies.  He  found  it 
adorned  with  lamps,  candlesticks,  cups,  vessels  of  incense, 
with  their  supports,  all  of  solid  gold,  with  a  great  collection 
of  the  richest  perfumes  and  a  sacred  treasure  of  two  thou- 
sand talents,  or  about  three  hundred  and  eighty-six  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling. 

Having  satisfied  his  curiosity,  it  is  mentioned  that  he 
respected  the  religion  of  the  place  so  much  as  to  have  loft 
every  part  of  this  treasure  untouched,  and  to  have  given 
directions  that  the  temple  itself  should  be  purified,  in  order 
to  expiate  the  profanation  of  which  he  himself  had  been 
guilty.  He  restored  Hyrcanus  to  the  priesthood  or  sove- 
reignty of  the  kingdom,  but  charged  him  with  a  consider- 
able tribute  to  the  Romans,  and  at  the  same  time  stripped 
the  nation  of  all  those  possessions  or  dependencies  in  Pales- 
tine and  Celosyria,  which  had  been  acquired  or  held  in  sub- 
jection by  their  ancestors. 

Pompey  now  recollecting  that  he  had  formerly  carried  * 
his  arms  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  and  to  the  boundaries 
of  Numidia  and  of  Spain ;  that  he  had  recently  penetrated 
to  the  coasts  of  the  Euxine,  and  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Caspian  sea ;  to  the  end  that  he  might  not  leave  any  part 
of  the  known  world  unexplored  by  liis  arms,  now  formed 
a  project  to  finish  this  round  of  exploits,  by  visiting  the 
shores  of  the  Asiatic  or  Eastern  ocean. 

But  while  Pompey  was  employed  in  the  settlement  of 
Syria,  in  the  reduction  of  Jerusalem,  and  meditating  these 
farther  conquests,  Mithridatea  was  busy  in  making  prepar- 
ations to  renew  the  war.  Having  heard  of  the  extremities 
to  which  the  citizens  of  Rome  had  been  frequently  reduced 
by  the  invasion  of  the  Gauls  and  of  Hannibal,  and  by  the 


264  HISTORY  OF  THE  JB-  II,. 

Insurrections  of  their  on  n  subjects  and  slaves,  he  concluded 
that  they  were  weakest  at  home,  or  might  be  attacked 
with  the  greatest  advantage  in  Italy.  He  now  therefore  re- 
nimed  a  project  which  he  had  formerly  proposed  to  Sertor  - 
nis,  of  marching  an  army  of  Scythians  by  the  Danube  and 
the  Alps.  He  visited  all  the  princes  in  his  neighbourhood, 
made  alliances  with  them,  and  persuaded  them,  by  the  hope* 
of  a  plentiful  spoil,  to  join  with  him  in  the  project  ?f  inva- 
ding Europe.  He  even  despatched  his  agents  into  Gaul, 
to  secure  the  co-operations  of  nations  on  that  side  of  the 
world,  and  trusted  that,  on  his  appearance  in  Italy,  many 
of  the  discontented  inhabitants  would  join  him  as  they  had  - 
joined  Hannibal ;  and  that  the  slaves,  so  lately  at  open  war 
with  their  masters,  would  likewise  be  a  plentiful  supply  of 
recruits  to  his  army. 

These  projects,  however,  appeared  to  his  own  nation  too 
hazardous  and  vast.  The  people  of  Phanagojia,  a  town  on 
the  shore  of  the  Bosphorus,  opposite  to  the  fortress  at  which 
the  king  now  resided,  together  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  pretending  a  variety  of  provocations,  revolted 
against  him ;  and  the  army,  during  his  confinement  fron 
indisposition,  losing  the  usual  awe  of  his  person,  mutinied, 
and  acknowledged  Pharnaces,  one  of  his  sons,  for  king. 
They  assembled  round  the  fort  in  which  Mithridates  was 
lodged,  and  which  he  had  garrisoned  with  a  chosen  body  of 
men.  When  he  appeared  on  the  battlements,  and  desired 
to  know  their  demands  :  "  To  exchange  you,"  they  said, 
"for  Pharnaces;  an  old  king  for  a  young  one."  He  ue- 
gired,  by  repeated  messages,  to  know  whether  he  might 
have  leave  to  depart  in  safety?  But  none  of  the  messengers 
he  sent  with  this  question  being  suffered  to  return,  he  ap- 
prehended that  there  was  a  design  to  deliver  him  up  into 
the  hands  of  the  Romans.  Under  this  apprehension  he  had 
recourse  to  his  last  resort,  a  dose  of  poison.  He  dismissed, 
with  expressions  of  kindness  and  gratitude,  such  of  his  at- 
tendants as  still  continued  faithful  to  him ;  and  being  left 
with  two  of  his  daughters,  who  earnestly  desired  to  die  with 
their  father,  he  allowed  them  to  share  in  the  draught,  and 
saw  them  expire.  But  the  portion  which  he  had  reserved 
for  himself  not  being  likely  to  overcome  the  vigour  of  his 
constitution,  he  ordered  a  faithful  slave  who  attended  him, 
to  perform  with  his  sword  what  was  in  those  times  account 
ed  the  highest  proof,  as  it  was  the  last  act,  of  fidelity  in  a 
servant  to  his  master. 

Accounts  of  this  event  were  brought  to  Pompey,  while 
his  army  was  encamped  at  the  distance  of  some  days'  march 
from  the  capital  of  Judca,  in  his  way  to  Arabia.  Having  now 


CM.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  2C5 

accomplished  the  principal  object  of  the  war,  he  dropped  his 
design  on  Arabia,  and  directed  the  march  of  his  army  towards 
Pontus.  Here  he  received  the  submission  of  Pharnaces,  and, 
with  many  other  gifts,  was  presented  with  the  embalmed 
corpse  of  the  king-.  The  whole  army  crowded  to  see  it, 
examined  the  features  and  the  scars,  testifying-,  by  these 
last  effects  of  their  curiosity,  the  respect  which  they  enter- 
tained for  this  extraordinary  man.  He  had,  with  short  in- 
tervals, occupied  the  arms  of  the  Romans  during  forty  years ; 
stud,  though  he  could  not  bring  the  natives  of  Asia  to  match 
with  the  Roman  legions,  yet  he  frequently,  by  the  superi- 
ority of  his  own  genius,  stood  firm  in  distress,  or  rose  from 
misfortune  with  new  and  unexpected  resources.  He  was 
tall,  and  of  a  vigorous  constitution,  addicted  to  women, 
and,  though  superior  to  every  other  sort  of  seduction,  to 
this  his  ardent  and  impetuous  spirit  made  him  a  frequent 
and  an  easy  prey. 

Pompey  proceeded  to  settle  the  remainder  of  his  con- 
quests ;  and,  besides  the  arrangements  already  mentioned, 
annexed  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  to  the  province  of  Bithy- 
nia,  gave  the  Bosphorus  to  Pharnaces,  and  put  tl:e  province 
of  Syria,  extending  to  the  frontier  of  Egypt,  under  the 
government  of  Scaurus. 

Without  entertaining  any  farther  projects  for  the  present, 
he  set  out  with  two  legions  on  the  route  of  Cilicia  towards 
Italy,  having  Tigranes,  son  to  the  king  of  Armenia,  together 
with  Aristobulus,  late  usurper  of  the  Jewish  throne,  with 
his  family,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  as  captives  to  adorn 
his  triumph. 


CHAP.  III. 

Graving  Corruption  of  the  Roman  Officer*  of  State— The  love  of  Conn, 
deration  changed  Jbr  Avarice,  Rapacity,  and  Prodigality  — Laut 
again*  Extortion — Catiline  a  Candidate  for  the  conndship — Contpiro 
ey  roith  Autroniut—  Competition  for  the  Contulate—  Election  of  Cicero  and 
Antonitu-CondHion  of  the  Timet— Agrarian  Law  of  Rtdlu»-Tnal 
«/ Ralririut-Cabalt  qf  the  Tribunet— Of  Catiline— Hit  Flight  from  the 
City—Ducovery  qfhit  Accomplice* —  Their  Execution. 

ABOUT  the  time  that  Pompey  obtained  his  commission  to 
command  with  so  extensive  a  po\ver  in  the  suppression  of 
the  pirates,  the  tide  began  to  run  high  against  the  aristo- 
erotical  party.*  The  populace,  led  by  some  of  the  tribunes* 
*  U.  C.  GS6. 


£GG  HISTORY  ()i<  THE  [IV  IIJ. 

were  ever  ready  to  insult  the  authority  of  the  senate ; 
and  the  vices  of  particular  men  gave  frequent  advantages 
against  the  whole  order  of  nobility.  Corruption  and  dan- 
gerous faction  prevailed  at  elections,  and  the  preferments 
of  state  were  generally  coveted,  as  steps  to  the  government 
of  provinces,  where  fortunes  were  amassed  by  every  species 
of  abuse,  oppression,  and  violence.  Envy  and  indignation 
concurred  in  rousing  the  people  against  these  abuses.  Cor- 
nelius, one  of  the  tribunes,  proposed  a  severe  law  against 
bribery,  by  which  persons  convicted  of  this  crime  should 
be  disqualified  for  any  office  of  state.  The  senate  wished 
to  soften  the  rigour  of  this  law,  by  limiting  the  penalty  to  a 
pecuniary  fine ;  but  the  tribune  prevailed,  and  obtained  an 
act  imposing  the  severer  penalty.  He  likewise,  by  another 
decree  of  the  people,  attacked  the  discretionary  jurisdiction 
of  the  pretors,  obliged  them  to  be  more  explicit  in  the  edicts 
they  published,  and  to  observe  them  more  exactly. 

The  crime  of  extortion  in  the  provinces,  however,  was  the 
greatest  disgrace  of  the  Romans.  To  have  found  an  effect- 
ual remedy  for  this  evil,  would  have  done  more  honour  to 
the  common  wealth  than  they  had  derived  from  all  their  con- 
quests. Severe  laws  were  accordingly  enacted,  complaints 
were  willingly  received,  and  prosecutions  encouraged. 

Manilius,  one  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  inferior  class  of  his  constituents,  had  obtain- 
ed by  surprise  an  act,  by  which  the  citizens  of  slavish  ex- 
traction were  to  be  promiscuously  enrolled  in  all  the  tribes. 
Tkis  act,  having  drawn  upon  him  the  resentment  of  the 
senate,  compelled  him  to  seek  for  security  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Gabinius  and  Pompey.  With  this  view  he  moved 
kis  famous  act,  in  which  Cicero  concurred,  to  vest  Pompey 
with  the  command  in  Asia.  This  motion  procured  him  a 
powerful  support,  and,  on  some  occasions,  the  general  voice 
of  the  people  in  his  favour. 

At  the  election  of  consuls  for  the  following  year,  L. 
Aurelius  Cotta,  and  L.  Manlius  Torquatus,  were  declared 
duly  elected. 

About  the  same  time  L.  Sergius  Catilina,  who  was  one 
of  the  most  violent  executioners  of  Sylla's  proscription*, 
having  returned  from  Africa,  where  he  had  served  in  the 
capacity  of  pretor,  and  intending  to  stand  for  the  consulate, 
was  accused  of  extortion  in  his  province,  and  stopped  in  his 
canvass  by  a  prosecution  raised  on  this  account.  In  his 
rage  for  this  disappointment,  he  was  ripe  for  any  disorder ; 
and,  being  readily  joined  by  Autronius  and  Piso,  formed  a 
conspiracy  to  assassinate  their  rivals,  to  massacre  the  senate, 
to  seize  the  ensigns  of  power,  and,  with  the  aid  of  their  fao  • 


Cu.  III.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


207 


tion,  to  lay  hold  of  the  government.  Julius  Caesar  and 
Crassus  are  mentioned  as  accomplices  in  this  plot,  and  it  is 
stated,  that,  Crassus  having  relented,  the  whole  was  dis- 
concerted. 

Catiline,  having  prevailed  upon  Clodius,  by  the  consider- 
ation of  a  sum  of  money,  to  drop  the  prosecution,  which 
had  been  intended  against  him,  was  left  to  offer  himself  a 
candidate  for  the  consulate  of  the  following  year. 

In  the  next  consulate,  Caius  Julius  C.-csar,  at  this  time 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  entered  on  his  career  of  popularity 
and  ambition.*  Being  edile  together  with  Marcus  Bibu- 
Uis,  he  not  only  concurred  with  his  colleague  in  all  th« 
expensive  shows  that  were  given  to  the  people,  but  gave 
separate  entertainments  on  his  own  account.  The  multi- 
tudes of  the  gladiators  he  had  assembled  on  this  occasion 
fave  an  alarm  to  the  magistracy,  and  he  was  ordered  not 
»o  exceed  a  certain  number.  In  the  administration  of  his 
office  as  pretor,  he  raised  prosecutions  on  a  charge  of  assas- 
sination, against  all  those  who  had  put  any  citizen  to  death 
in  execution  of  Sylla's  proscription. 

What  has  most  distinguished  this  consulate,  however, 
is  the  competition  of  candidates  for  the  succession  to  that 
oflice  on  the  following  year,  and  the  consequences  of  the 
election  which  followed.  The  candidates  were  M.  Tullius 
Cicero,  C.  Antonius,  son  of  the  late  celebrated  orator,  L. 
Sergius  Catilina,  P.  Sulpitius  Galba,  and  L.  Cassius  Lon- 
ginus,  Quintus  Cornificius,  and  Licinius  Sacerdos. 

Cicero  was  the  first  of  his  family  who  had  ever  resided, 
or  enjoyed  any  honours,  at  Rome.  He  was  a  native  of 
Arpinum,  a  country  town  of  Italy,  and  was  considered  as 
an  obscure  person  by  those  who  were  descended  of  ancient 
families,  but  had  great  consideration  on  account  of  his  elo- 
quence and  the  consequences  of  it,  to  all  such  as  had  any 
interests  at  stake  before  the  tribunals  of  justice.  He  was 
like  other  ambitious  men  at  Rome,  disposed  to  court  every 
party,  and  willing  to  gain  individuals;  and  had  of  late,  in 
particular,  considerably  strengthened  his  interest,  by  hav- 
ing supported  the  pretensions  of  Pompey,  and  by  having 
joined  the  popular  tribunes,  in  what  they  proposed  in  behalf 
of  that  officer. 

In  the  course  of  this  competition  for  the  consulship,  An- 
tonius and  Catiline  joined  interests  together,  and  spared  no 
kind  or  degree  of  corruption.  Cicero  complained  of  their 
practices  in  the  senate,  and  moved  to  revive  the  law  of 
Calpuniius  against  bribery,  with  an  additional  penalty  of 


*  u.  n.  «SQ. 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  111. 

ten  years'  banishment.  Catiline  considered  this  measure  as 
levelled  against  himself ;  and  incited  by  this  provocation,- 
as  well  as  by  the  animosity  of  a  rival,  was  then  supposed  to 
have  formed  a  design  against  Cicero's  life,  and  to  have 
expressed  himself  to  this  purpose,  in  terms  that  gave  a 
general  alarm  to  the  electors,  and  determined  great  num- 
bers against  himself.  He  had  drawn  to  his  interests  many 
persons  of  infamous  character  and  desperate  fortune,  man  y 
youths  of  good  family,  whom  he  debauched  or  encouraged 
in  the'ir  profligacy,  and  his  language,  at  their  meetings,  was 
full  of  indignation  at  the  unequal  and  supposed  unjust  dis- 
tribution of  fortune  and  power. 

In  the  mean  time,  Catiline  was  considered  as  a  person  of 
the  most  dangerous  designs,  and  was  opposed  in  his  election 
by  all  who  had  any  regard  to  public  order,  or  to  the  safety 
of  the  commonwealth.  Cicero,  at  the  same  time,  being 
supported  by  the  senate,  was  elected,  together  with  Cains 
Antonius.  The  latter  stood  candidate  upon  the  same 
interest  with  Catiline,  and  was  preferred  to  him  only  by  a 
small  majority. 

By  this  event  the  designs  of  Catiline  \vere  supposed  to 
be  frustrated  ;  but  the  consuls  were  not  likely  to  enter  on 
a  quiet  administration.*  The  triburiitian  power,  from  the 
time  of  its  restoration,  was  gradually  recovering  its  force, 
and  extending  its  operations.  Every  person  that  could 
give  any  public  disturbance,  that  could  annoy  the  senate, 
or  mortify  any  of  its  leading  members  ;  every  one  that  had 
views  of  ambition  adverse  to  the  laws,  or  who  wished  to 
take  part  in  scenes  of  confusion  and  tumult;  every  person 
oppressed  with  debt,  who  wished  to  defraud  his  creditors ; 
every  person  who,  by  his  profligacy  or  crimes,  was  at  vari- 
ance with  the  tribunals  of  justice,  was  comprehended  under 
the  general  denomination  of  the  popular  party.  The  Ro- 
man people  had  once  been  divided  into  patrician  and  ple- 
beian, next  into  noblemen  and  commoners ;  but  now  they 
took  sides  with  little  regard  to  former  distinctions  against 
or  for  the  preservation  of  public  order. 

One  of  the  tribunes  of  the  present  year,  Servilius  Rullus, 
soon  after  his  admission  into  office,  under  pretence  of  pro- 
viding settlements  for  many  of  the  citizens,  promulgated 
the  heads  of  an  agrarian  law,  which  he  carried  to  the  sen- 
ate.  He  moved  the  conscript  fathers,  that  they  would  be 
pleased  to  give  it  the  sanction  of  their,  approbation  and 
authority  in  being  carried  to  the  people.  Upon  this  occa- 
sion, Cicero  made  his  first  speech  in  the  character  of  consul 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  269 

The  former  part  of  it  is  lost ;  tho  remainder  may  be  reck- 
oned among1  the  highest  specimens  of  his  eloquence.  In 
this  and  the  two  speeches  he  delivered  to  the  people,  on  the 
same  subject,  he  painted  in  such  lively  colours  the  abuses 
which  might  be  committed  by  Rullus,  and  by  his  associates 
in  enforcing  the  proposed  law ;  and  so  exposed  the  impu- 
dence of  the  cheat,  by  which  it  was  proposed  to  surprise 
the  people  into  the  granting  of  such  powers,  the  absurdity 
and  the  ruinous  tendency  of  the  whole  measure,  that  it 
was  instantly  rejected,  and  its  author  hissed  from  the 
assembly,  and  treated  as  an  object  of  ridicule  and  scorn. 

There  happened  under  the  same  consulate  a  business  of 
greater  difficulty,  being  a  motion  to  restore  the  sons  of  the 
proscribed  to  the  privilege  of  being  chosen  into  the  offices 
of  state,  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  an  ordinance 
of  Sylla.  Their  fate  was  undoubtedly  calamitous  and 
severe.  But  Cicero,  apprehending  that  this  proposal  tended 
to  arm  and  to  strengthen  persons,  who,  from  long  use,  had 
contracted  a  habitual  disaffection  to  the  established  govern- 
ment, powerfully  opposed  the  motion,  and  succeeded  in 
having  it  rejected. 

Though  the  orations  on  the  two  subjects  last  mentioned 
have  perished,  great  part  of  that  which  he  spoke  on  the 
trial  of  C.  Rabirius  still  remains.  This  man,  of  a  great  age, 
a  respectable  senator,  at  the  distance  of  six-and-thirty 
years,  was  brought  to  trial  as  an  accomplice  in  the  death  of 
Apuleius  Saturninus,  the  factious  tribune,  who  was  put  to 
death  as  a  public  enemy. 

Titus  Atius  Labienus,  one  of  the  tribunes,  was  the  de- 
clared prosecutor  of  C.  Rabirius  ;  but  historians  agree,  that 
this  tribune  acted  at  the  instigation,  and  under  the  direc- 
tion, of  C.  Julius  Caesar.  The  intention  of  the  popular 
party  was,  to  deter  every  person  from  acting  in  support  of 
the  senate,  or  from  opposing  force  to  the  designs  of  factious 
tribunes,  however  turbulent  or  dangerous. 

The  senate,  and  all  the  friends  of  government,  wore 
greatly  alarmed,  and  united  in  defence  of  Rabirius.  The 
popular  party  took  the  opposite  side. 

The  prosecutor  laid  his  charge  for  treason  of  the  nio-t 
heinous  kind,  and  destined  the  accused  to  die  on  the  cross, 
the  ordinary  manner  of  executing  the  sentence  of  death  on 
the  slaves.  The  accusation  was  first  brought  before  the 
pretor,  who  possessed  the  ordinary  jurirrirtion  in  such 
cases.  This  magistrate  empanneled  two  judges,  who  were 
to  determine  in  this  mighty  cause.  These  were  Cams 
Julius  and  Lucius  Caesar.  At  this  court  the  defendant  was 
condemned ;  and  th«  sentence  must  have  been  executed,  i/ 


270  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

ths  condemned  ha  1  not  fled,  by  appeal,  to  the  judgment  of 
the  people,  where  indeed  his  cause  might  be  reckoned  more 
desperate  than  if  it  had  been  before  a  select  court.  The 
parties  attended  this  trial  with  great  ardour.  Hortensius 
conducted  the  ap)  eal  and  defence.  Cicero  pleaded  in  be- 
half of  justice  and  government ;  painted  the  age,  the  infir- 
mities, the  forlorn  state  of  the  defendant,  who  had  survived 
his  relations  and  his  friends.  He  pointed  out  the  danger  to 
government  and  t:>  order  from  this  precedent,  in  terms  that 
must  have  melted  every  heart,  not  callous  from  ambition, 
faction,  or  profligacy  of  manners :  but  in  vain.  Even  in  the 
assembly  of  the  renturies,  the  majority  was  hastening  to 
affirm  the  sentence,  when  Q.  C.-ecilius  Metellus  Celer,  then 
pretor,  and  one  of  the  augurs,  hastened  to  the  Janiculum, 
and  tore  down  the  ensign  which  was  planted  there  as  a  sign 
of  peace.  A  silly  piece  of  superstition  stopped  the  proceed- 
ings of  those  whom  neither  justice  nor  compassion,  nor 
regard  to  government,  could  restrain. 

It  was  established,  that  the  assembly  of  the  centuries 
could  not  proceed  without  this  signal  in  view.  In  the  first 
ages  of  Rome,  the  enemy  were  always  at  the  gate.  While 
the  people  were  assembled  in  the  field  on  one  side  of  the 
city,  they  were  in  danger  of  being  assailed  on  the  other. 
When  they  assembled,  therefore,  in  the  field  of  Mars,  ;i 
guard  was  always  posted  on  the  Janiculum,  and  an  ensign 
displayed.  If  any  enemy  appeared,  the  ensign  was  taken 
down,  the  assembly  dismissed,  and  the  people  took  to  their 
arms.  This  ceremony,  like  many  other  customs  both  of 
superstition  and  law,  remained  after  the  occasion  had 
ceased  ;  and  it  was  held  illegal  or  impious  in  the  people  to 
proceed  in  any  atfair  without  the  ensign  in  view.  By  this 
means  the  trial  was  put  off,  and  the  tribune  Labienus  laid 
aside  all  thoughts  of  renewing  the  prosecution. 

Among  the  several  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  none 
was  more  desperate,  nor  supposed  more  dangerous,  than 
Catiline,  the  late  disappointed  candidate  for  the  consulship. 
His  rival  Cicero  had  intimation,  before  the  elections,  of  a 
design  formed  by  this  desperate  faction  against  his  own 
person,  and  still  continued  to  observe  them.  He  entered 
into  a  correspondence  with  Fulvia,  a  woman  of  rank,  who 
had  given  the  first  hints  of  a  dangerous  conspiracy ;  and, 
by  means  of  this  woman,  procured  the  confidence  of  Curius. 
who  gave  him  minute  information  of  all  the  proceedings  of 
the  party. 

In  public,  Catiline  again  professed  himself  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  consul,  in  competition  with  Servius  Sulpicius, 
P.  Muraena,  ami  J.  Silanus.  He  boasted  of  support  from 


m.  III.. 


HOMAN  REPUBLIC. 


271 


Antoifms;  but  Cicero,  to  divert  his  colleague  from  this 
dangerous  connexion,  made  him  every  concession. 

In  secret,  Catiline  encouraged  his  adherents  by  profes- 
sing to  have  many  resources,  and  to  be  supported  by  num. 
bora  who  were  ready  to  take  arms  at  his  command.  In  a 
numerous  meeting  of  his  party  in  October,  a  few  days  he- 
tore  the  consular  elections,  he  opened  the  whole  of  his 
•  iesigns  ;  and  Cicero,  who  had  frequently  taxed  Catiline 
v  ith  such  designs,  now  determined  to  lay  the  whole  of  his 
intelligence  before  the  senate ;  for  this  purpose  deferring 
fiie  consular  elections,  which  were  to  have  been  held  on  the 
eighteenth  of  October,  to  a  future  day,  and  assembling  the 
senate.  Catiline  having,  with  the  other  members,  attended, 
and  hearing  the  charge,  did  not  pretend  to  deny  or  to  pal- 
liate his  words.  *'  There  are,"  he  said,  "  in  this  republic 
two  parties;  one  weak  both  in  its  members  and  head ;  the 
other  strong  in  its  members,  but  wanting  a  head :  while  1 
have  the  honour  of  being  supported  by  this  party,  it  shall 
have  a  head."  Upon  these  words,  a  general  cry  of  indig- 
nation arose  in  the  senate;  but  no  resolution  was  taken. 
Many,  who  were  there  present  as  members,  were  pleased 
to  see  the  senate  itself  insulted  ;  and  Catiline,  as  if  in  con- 
dition to  brave  all  his  enemies,  was,  in  all  his  expressions, 
••quail  y  unguarded  in  the  streets  and  in  the  senate. 

A  prosecution  was  actually  raised  against  him  in  the 
name  of  Lucius  Paulus,  a  young  man  of  distinction,  for 
carrying  arms  against  the  public  peace.  On  this  occasion, 
however,  he  thought  proper  to  dissemble  his  thoughts,  and 
ottered  to  commit  his  person  to  custody  till  his  innocence 
should  appear. 

By  one  effect  of  the  unparalleled  freedom  now  enjoyed 
by  Roman  citizens,  persons  accused  of  the  most  dangerous 
crimes  were  at  liberty,  during  the  dependence  of  their  trial, 
either  to  proceed  in  perpetrating  their  crime,  or  to  with- 
draw from  justice.  This  effect  was  derived  from  the  laws 
of  Valerius  and  Porcius,  which  secured  against  violence  01 
the  power  of  the  magistrate,  the  person  of  every  citi/eu, 
until  he  were  finally  condemned  by  the  people. 

Catiline,  soon  after  the  elections,  at  which,  by  the  pre- 
ference given  to  Muraena  and  Silanus,  he  received  a  fresh 
disappointment  in  his  hopes  of  the  consulship,  sent  Malliua, 
or  Manlius,  an  experienced  soldier,  who  had  served  with 
himself  under  Sylla,  to  prepare  for  an  insurrection  in  the 
district  of  Etruria,  where  he  assembled  a  considerable  body 
of  men. 

Catilino  meanwhile  remained  in  the  city,  and  had  fre- 
ouent  consultations  for  the  preparation  and  the  execution 


272  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  Ill, 

of  his  plot.  At  <fi  meeting"  of  tho  party,  held  in  the  begin- 
ning- of  November,  in  the  house  of  M.  Porcius  Lecca,  a 
general  massacre  of  the  principal  senators  was  projected. 
Tha  conspirators  severally  chose  their  stations,  and  under- 
took their  several  parts.  Two  in  particular,  who  were 
familiar  in  Cicero's  house,  undertook  next  morning-,  undei 
pretence  of  a  visit,  to  surprise  and  assassinate  the  con  MI  I 
But  he  being  the  same  night  apprized  of  his  danger  by  Ful- 
via,  gave  the  proper  orders ;  and  the  intended  murderers 
upon  their  appearance  at  his  door,  were  refused  admit- 
tance. He  immediately  after  assembled  the  senate  in  the 
temple  of  Jupiter.  Catiline  presented  himself  with  his 
usual  presumption;  and  Cicero,  as  appears  from  an  oration 
which  he  then  delivered,  instead  of  laying  the  matter  in 
form  before  the  senate,  accosted  Catiline  in  a  vehement 
invective,  urging  him  to  be  gone  from  the  city,  where  all 
his  steps  were  minutely  observed,  where  his  meaning  \\  as 
understood,  and  precautions  taken  against  all  his  designs. 

Catiline  rose  and  attempted  to  vindicate  his  character,  but 
was  silenced  with  a  general  cry  of  indignation ;  upon 
which  he  left  the  senate ;  and,  after  concerting  farther 
measures  with  those  of  his  party,  not  thinking  that  a  longer 
stay  in  the  city  could  be  of  any  use  to  his  affairs,  he  with- 
drew in  the  night  for  the  camp  of  Mallius,  and  entered  into 
a  state  of  open  war.  The  features  of  this  man's  portrait 
are  probably  exaggerated  by  the  vehement  pencils  and 
lively  colourings  of  Cicero  and  of  Sallust.  He  is  represented 
as  able  to  endure  hardships  of  any  kind,  and  as  fearless  in 
any  danger  ;  as,  from  his  youth,  fond  of  discord,  assassina- 
tions, and  bloodshed ;  as  having,  under  pretence  of  Sylhv's 
proscription,  murdered  his  own  brother  to  possess  hi* 
estate  ;  as  having  murdered  his  own  child,  to  remove  the 
objection  made  to  him  by  a  woman  who  refused  to  marry 
him  with  the  prospect  of  being  a  step-mother.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  rapacious,  prodigal,  gloomy,  impetuous,  unquiet, 
dissembling,  and  perfidious ;  a  description,  of  which  the 
horrors  are  probably  amplified  :  but  for  which  it  cannot  bs 
doubted  there  was  much  foundation. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  the  ambassadors  of  the  Allobroges, 
a  people  then  inhabiting  what  is  now  called  the  territory  of 
Geneva,  and  part  of  Savoy,  were  apprehended  having  in 
their  possession  documents  showing  the  prime  agents  and 
workings  of  the  conspiracy. 

The  consul  sent  messages  to  Gabinius,  Statilius,  Cethe- 
g-us,  art.d  Lentulus,the  agents  of  Catiline  in  the  city,  desir- 
ing to  see  them  at  his  own  house.  The  three  former  came 
with  the  messenger  ;  but  Lentulus  was  newly  gone  to  bf-d 


CH.  III.] 


ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


273 


and,  by  Ins  delay,  gave  some  cause  to  suspect  that  he  was 
aware  of  his  danger.  He  too,  however,  came ;  and  the 
house  of  Cicero  was  presently  crowded,  not  only  with  num- 
bers of  the  equestrian  order  that  were  in  arms  for  the  de- 
fence of  his  person,  but  likewise  with  many  senators  whom 
he  desired  to  be  present.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Allobro- 
ges,  no\v  prisoners,  were  likewise  conducted  thither,  and 
the  letters  found  upon  them  were  produced  unopened. 
Cicero  gave  orders  to  assemble  the  senate  without  delay, 
in  order  to  lay  the  whole  matter  before  them;  and  the 
senate  was  accordingly  called.  Meantime  the  Allobroges 
dropped  some  expressions  which  implied,  that  arms  were 
concealed  in  the  house  of  Cethegus.  This  occasioned  a 
search  being  there  made,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  dag- 
gers and  swords  were  accordingly  found. 

At  th«  meeting  of  the  senate,  the  deputies  of  the  Allo- 
broges  acknowledged,  that  they  had  been  charged  by  Len- 
t ul us,  Cethegus,  Statilius,  and  Cassius,  with  assurances  of 
support  to  the  council  of  their  nation,  confirmed  by  oath, 
accompanied  with  directions,  without  delay,  to  march  a 
body  of  horse  into  Italy,  where  they  should  be  joined  by  a 
numerous  infantry,  and  receive  proper  directions  in  what 
manner  they  should  farther  proceed ;  that,  to  encourage  them 
Lentulus  quoted  a  prophecy,  found  in  the  collection  of  the 
Sybils,  by  which  he  himself  was  pointed  out  as  the  third  of 
the  Cornelii  destined  to  arrive  at  the  sovereignty  of  Rome. 

The  supposed  conspirators  were  next  called  in  their 
turns  ;  and  the  letters,  with  the  sea's  unbroken,  were 
exhibited  before  them.  Cethegus,  persisted  in  denying  his 
knowledge  of  any  conspiracy.  Lentuius  at  first  with  great 
confidence,  denied  the  charge  ;  but  during  an  examination 
he  forgot  his  disguise,  and  confessed :  Gabinius  too  was 
at  last  brought  to  own  his  guilt ;  and  in  this  manner  thf 
conspiracy  was  fully  laid  open. 

A  proclamation  was  issued  to  apprehend  M.  Caeparms, 
who  had  been  sent  to  raise  an  insurrection  in  Apulia, 
together  with  P.  Furius,  Magius  Chilo,  and  P.  Umbrenus, 
who  had  first  introduced  the  Gaulish  ambassadors  to 
Gabinius.  The  senate  voted  thanks  to  the  consul  Cicero 
for  his  groat  vigilance,  and  for  the  consummate  ability  he 
had  shown  in  the  discovery  and  suppression  of  this  treason- 
able design ;  to  the  proton?,  for  the  faithful  execution  of  the 
consul's  orders;  and  to  Antonius  his  colleague,  for  having 
detached  himself  from  men  with  whom  he  was  known  to 
have  been  formerly  connected.  A  public  thanksgiving  to 
the  gods  was  likewise  decreed. 

An  assembly  of  the  people  being  called,  Cicero  gave  thii 


274  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  HI. 

account  of  the  proceeding's  in  a  speech  which  is  still  extant, 
and  early  on  the  following1  day  assembled  the  senate  to 
deliberate  on  the  farther  resolutions  to  be  taken  with  respect 
to  the  prisoners.  An  agent  had  been  busy  in  the  night  to 
raise  some  disturbance  in  favour  of  Lentulus ;  but  the  design 
of  setting1  fire  to  the  city  struck  the  people  in  general  with 
so  much  horror,  that  citizens  of  every  rank  came  forth  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  magistrates. 

When  the  senate  met,  the  members  differed  in  their  judg- 
ment ;  and  after  a  long-  discussion,  in  which  C.  Julius  Cesar 
Cato,  and  Cicero  took  part,  passed  sentence  of  death  against 
the  prisoners.  Their  execution  was  accordingly  determined, 
and  Cornelius  Lentulus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  following 
night,  was,  by  order  of  the  consul,  com  mitted  to  a  vaulted 
dungeon  under  ground,  and  strangled.  His  accomplices 
had  the  same  fate ;  and  the  minds  of  men,  though  somewhat 
quieted  of  their  fears,  were  nevertheless  stunned  with  the 
scene,  and  beheld  with  amazement  a  patrician  of  the  Cor- 
nelian family,  of  the  first  rank  in  the  commonwealth,  who 
himself  had  been  consul,  suffering,  without  any  formal  trial, 
by  the  hands  of  the  common  executioner  of  justice. 

While  these  things  were  in  agitation  at  Home,  Catiline 
was  endeavouring  to  augment  his  force  in  the 'field.  He 
found  about  two  thousand  men  under  Mallius.  These  he 
formed  into  two  legions,  and  as  his  party  increased  he  com- 
pleted their  numbers  ;  endeavoured  to  gain  time,  in  hopes 
that,  the  intended  blow  being  struck  at  Rome,  a  general 
defection  of  the  opposite  party  would  ensue.  But  when 
accounts  came  that  his  design  had  failed  in  the  city,  and 
that  his  principal  associates  were  no  more,  those  who  were 
inclined  to  his  cause  were  discouraged,  and  numbers  who 
had  already  joined  him  began  to  fall  off,  he  determined  to 
remove  to  a  distance  from  his  enemies;  and  for  this  purpose 
directed  his  march  to  a  pass  in  the  Apennines,  by  which  he 
might  escape  into  Gaul.  This  design  the  Pretor  Metellus 
had  foreseen,  made  a  forced  march  to  prevent  the  effecting  of 
it,  and  Catiline  at  last,  finding  himself  beset  on  every  quarter 
determined  to  hazard  a  battle.  Of  the  armies  that  were  it 
the  field  against  him  he  chose  to  face  that  of  Antonius ; 
Antonius,  being  taken  ill,  had  left  the  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  Petreius.  With  this  commander  Catiline  engaged 
in  battle,  and  after  many  efforts  of  valour  and  of  conduct, 
fell  with  the  greater  part  of  his  followers,  and  thus  delivered 
the  state  from  a  desperate. enemy,  whose  power  was  hap- 
pily not  equal  to  his  designs,  and  who  has  owed  much  of  Ids 
celebrity  to  the  orator  and  the  historian,  who  have  made  him 
the  subject  of  their  eloquent  compositions. 


CH.  IV.] 


275 


CHAP.  iv. 

Cti-irurfcr  of  the  Time*  —Philosophy  -  Opposite    Trnctt  and  f'olnrict— 
Prrk-eedintf*  of  the  tenate — Tribunate  of    M<<tellus   Nepot,    and   of 
Cato     Prnpotal  to  recall  Pompey  at  the  he  nl  of  hit  army  jrustrafal 
Hit  arrival  in  Italy — And  Triumph. 

IT  may  appear  strange,  that  any  age  or  nation  should  have 
furnished  the  example  of  a  project  conceived  in  so  much 
guilt,  or  of  characters  so  atrocious  as  tl-ose  under  which  the 
accomplices  of  Catiline  are  described  by  the  eloquent  orator 
and  historian,  from  whose  writings  the  "ircumstances  of  the 
late  conspiracy  are  collected.  The  see -IP,  however,  in  this 
republic  was  such  as  to  have  no  parali  ',  either  in  the  past 
or  in  the  subsequent  history  of  mankin  !.  There  was  less 
government,  and  more  to  be  govervd,  than  has  been 
exhibited  in  any  other  instance.  The  ;»eople  of  Italy  were 
become  masters  of  the  known  world ;  it  was  impossible  they 
could  ever  meet  in  a  fair  and  adequate  convention.  They 
were  represented  by  partial  meetings  or  occasional  tumults 
in  the  city  of  Rome  ;  and  to  take  the  sense  of  the  people 
on  any  subject  was  to  raise  a  riot.  Individuals  were  vested 
with  powers  almost  discretionary  in  the  provinces,  or  con- 
tinually aspired  to  such  situations.  The  public  interests 
and  the  order  of  the  state  were  in  perpetual  struggle  with 
the  pretensions  of  single  and  of  profligate  men. 

Among  the  causes  that  helped  to  carry  the  characters  of 
men  in  this  age  to  distant  extremes,  may  be  reckoned  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks,  which  was  lately  come  into 
fashion,  and  which  was  much  affected  by  the  higher  ranks 
of  men  in  the  state.  Philosophy  was  considered  as  an 
ornament,  as  well  as  a  real  foundation  of  strength,  ability, 
and  wisdom  in  the  practice  of  life.  Men  of  the  world 
c-mbraced  their  forms  in  philosophy,  as  the  sectaries  in 
modern  times  have  embraced  theirs  in  religion ;  and  pro- 
bably in  th<»  one  case  honoured  their  choice  by  the  sincerity 
of  their  faith  and  the  regularity  of  their  practice,  much  in 
the  same  degree  as  they  have  done  in  the  other. 

In  these  latter  times  of  the  Roman  republic  the  sect  of 
Epicurus  appears  to  have  prevailed.  Men  were  glutted 
with  national  prosperity;  they  thought  that  they  were 
born  to  enjoy  what  their  fathers  had  won,  and  saw  not  the 
use  of  those  austere  and  arduous  virtues  by  which  the  state 
lia.l  increased  to  its  present  greatness.  The  votaries  of  this 
sect  ascribed  the  formation  of  the  world  to  chance,  and 
denied  the  existence  of  Providence.  They  resolved  tha 


276"  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

distinctions  of  right  and  wrong-,  of  honour  and  dishonour 
into  mere  appellations  of  pleasure  and  pain.  Every  mans 
pleasure  was  to  himself  the  supreme  rule  of  estimation  anf 
of  action.  All  good  was  private.  The  public  was  a  more 
imposture,  that  might  be  successfully  employed,  perhaps  t.<» 
defraud  the  ignorant  of  their  private  enjoyments,  while  it 
furnished  the  conveniences  of  the  wise. 

Other  sects,  particularly  that  of  the  Stoics,  maintained, 
almost  in  every  particular,  the  reverse  of  these  tenets. 
They  maintained  the  reality  of  Providence  and  of  a  common 
interest  of  goodness  and  of  justice,  for  -which  Providence 
was  exerted,  and  in  which  all  rational  creatures  were  deeply 
concerned.  They  allowed,  that  in  the  nature  of  things  there 
are  many  grounds  upon  which  we  prefer  or  reject  the 
objects  that  present  themselves  to  us,  but  that  the  choice 
which  we  make,  not  the  event  of  our  efforts,  decides 
our  happiness  or  our  misery ;  that  right  and  wrong  are 
the  most  important  and  the  only  grounds  upon  which  we 
can  at  all  times  safely  proceed  in  our  choice,  and  that,  in 
comparison  to  this  difference,  every  thing  else  is  of  no  ac- 
count ;  that  a  just  man  will  ever  act  as  if  there  was  nothing 
good  but  what  is  right,  and  nothing  evil  but  what  is  wrong ; 
that  the  love  of  excellence  and  honour  was  aspiring  and 
noble,  and  led  to  the  greatest  exertions  and  the  highest 
attainments  of  our  nature. 

Other  sects  affected  to  find  a  middle  way  between  these 
extremes,  and  attempted,  in  speculation,  to  render  their 
doctrines  more  plausible ;  that  is,  more  agreeable  to  common 
opinions  than  either ;  but  were,  in  fact,  of  no  farther  moment 
in  human  life  than  as  they  approached  to  the  one  or  to  the 
other  of  these  opposite  systems. 

Cesar  is  said  to  have  embraced  the  doctrines  of  Epicurus  ; 
Cato  those  of  Zeno.  The  first,  in  compliance  with  fashion, 
or  from  the  bias  of  an  original  temper.  The  other,  from 
the  force  of  conviction,  as  well  as  from  the  predilection  of 
a  wann  and  ingenuous  mind.  When  such  characters  occur 
together,  it  is  impossible  not  to  see  them  in  contrast.  Cato 
was  distinguished  from  his  infancy  by  an  ardent  and  affec- 
tionate disposition.  He  had  from  his  infancy,  according 
to  Plutarch,  a  resolution,  a  steadiness,  and  a  composure  ot 
mind  not  to  be  moved  by  flattery,  nor  to  be  shaken  by 
threats.  Without  fawning  or  insinuation,  he  was  the 
favourite  of  his  companions,  and  had,  by  his  unaffected 
generosity  and  courage,  the  principal  place  in  their  confi- 
dence. Though  in  appearance  stern  and  inflexible,  he  was 
warm  in  his  affections,  and  zealous  in  the  cause  of  innocence 
and  justice.  He  became  a  striking  contrast  to  many  of  liia 


C9.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  277 

contemporaries  ;  and  to  Cesar  in  particular,  not  only  a 
contrast,  but  a  resolute  opponent ;  and  though  he  could 
not  furnish  a  sufficient  counterpoise,  yet  he  aflbrded  always 
much  weight  to  be  thrown  into  the  opposite  scale.  They 
wore  both  of  undaunted  courage,  and  of  great  penetration ; 
the  one  to  distinguish  what  was  best ;  the  other  to  distin- 
guish the  most  effectual  means  for  the  attainment  of  any 
'  end  on  which  he  was  bent.  It  were  to  mistake  entirely 
the  scene  in  which  they  were  engaged,  to  judge  of  their 
abilities  from  the  event  of  their  different  pursuits.  Those 
of  Cato  were  by  their  nature  a  series  of  struggles  with  al- 
most insurmountable  difficulties :  those  of  Cesar  a  constant 
endeavour  to  seize  the  advantages  of  which  the  vices  and 
weaknesses  of  the  age,  except  when  he  was  resisted  by 
persons  bent  on  the  same  purpose  with  himself,  gave  him 
an  easy  possession.  Cato  endeavoured  to  preserve  the 
order  of  civil  government,  however  desperate,  because  this 
was  the  part  it  became  him  to  act,  and  in  which  he  chose 
to  live  and  to  die.  Cesar  proposed  to  overturn  it ;  because 
he  wished  to  dispose  of  all  the  wealth  and  honours  of  the 
state  at  his  own  pleasure. 

Cesar,  as  versatile  in  his  genius,  as  Cato  was  steady  and 
inflexible,  could  personate  any  character,  and  support  any 
cause ;  in  debate  he  could  derive  his  arguments  from  any 
topic;  from  topics  of  pity,  of  which  he  was  insensible;  from 
topics  of  justice  and  public  good,  for  which  he  had  no  regard. 
His  vigour  in  resisting  personal  insults  and  wrongs  appear- 
ed in  his  early  youth,  when  he  withstood  the  imperious 
commands  of  Sylla  to  part  with  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
Cinna,  and  when  he  revenged  the  insults  offered  by  the 
pirates  to  himself;  but  while  his  temper  might  be  supposed 
the  most  animated  and  warm,  he  was  not  involved  in  busi- 
ness by  a  predilection  for  any  of  the  interests  on  which  the 
state  was  divided.  So  long  as  the  appetites  of  youth  were 
sufficient  to  occupy  him,  he  saw  every  object  of  state,  or  of 
faction,  with  indifference,  and  took  no  part  in  public  affairs. 
But  even  in  this  period,  by  his  application  and  genius,  in 
both  of  which  he  was  eminent,  he  made  a  distinguished  pro- 
gress in  letters  and  eloquence. 

Cesar  had  attained  to  seven-and-thirty  years  of  age  before 
he  took  any  part  as  a  member  of  the  commonwealth.  Ho 
then  courted  the  populace  in  preference  to  the  senate  or 
better  sort  of  the  people,  and  made  his  appearance  in  sup- 
port of  the  profligate,  against  the  order  and  authority  of 
government.  With  persons  of  desperate  fortune  and  aban- 
doned manners,  he  early  bore  the  character  of  liberality 
and  friendship.  They  received  him  as  a  generous  patron 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

come  to  rescue  them  from  the  morose  severity  of  those  who 
judged  of  public  merits  by  the  standard  of  public  virtue,  and 
who  declared  against  practices,  however  fashionable,  which 
were  inconsistent  with  public  safety.  When  he  emerged 
from  the  avocations  of  pleasure,  or  from  the  sloth  which 
accompanies  the  languor  of  dissipation,  his  ambition  or 
desire  to  counteract  the  established  government  of  his  . 
country,  and  to  make  himself  master  of  the  commonwealth, 
became  extreme.  To  this  passion  he  sacrificed  every  senti- 
ment of  friendship  or  animosity,  of  honour,  interest,  resent- 
ment, or  hatred. 

Cato  began  his  military  service  in  the  army  that  was 
formed  against  the  gladiators,  and  concluded  it  as  a  legion- 
ary tribune,  under  the  pretor  Ilubrius  in  Macedonia,  while 
Pompey  remained  in  Syria.  He  was  about  three-and- 
thirty  years  of  age  when  he  made  his  speech  relating  to  the 
accomplices  of  Catiline ;  and  by  the  decisive  and  resolute 
spirit  he  had  shown  on  this  occasion,  came  to  be  considered 
as  a  principal  support  of  the  aristocracy,  or  of  the  authority 
of  the  senate.  To  this  body,  as  usual,  every  flagrant  dis- 
order repressed  was  a  victory.  The  discovery  of  a  design 
so  odious  as  that  of  Catiline,  covered  under  popular  preten- 
ces, greatly  weakened  their  antagonists.  One  of  the  first 
uses  they  proposed  to  make  of  their  advantage,  was  to  have 
Cato  elected  among  the  tribunes  of  the  subsequent  year. 
The  leading  men  of  the  senate  were  now,  for  some  time, 
aware  of  the  intrigues  of  Pompey,  and  bore,  with  indigna- 
tion, the  personal  superiority  which  he  affected  even  to  the 
first  and  most  respected  of  their  order.  They  took  occa- 
sion, in  the  present  crisis,  to  mortify  him  by  admitting 
Lucullus  and  Metellus  Creticus  to  the  triumphs  to  which, 
by  their  victories  in  Pontus  and  in  Crete,  they  were  long 
entitled.  Hitherto  their  claims  had  been  overruled  by  the 
popular  faction,  either  to  annoy  the  senatorian  party,  to 
which  they  were  attached,  or  to  flatter  Pompey,  who  was 
supposed  to  be  equally  averse  to  the  honours  of  both.  They 
had  waited  in  Italy  about  three  years,  and,  in  the  manner 
of  those  who  sue  for  a  triumph,  had  abstained  from  enter- 
ing the  city,  and  still  retained  the  fasces  or  ensigns  of  their 
late  command. 

Lucullus,  having  obtained  the  honour  that  was  due  to 
him,  seemed  to  be  satisfied  with  the  acknowledgment  of  his 
right;  and,  as  if  merely  to  show  with  what  sort  of  enemy 
he  had  fought,  he  entered  the  city  with  a  few  of  the  Arme- 
nian horsemen  cased  in  armour,  a  few  of  the  armed  chariots 
winged  with  scythes,  and  about  sixty  of  the  officers  and 
courtiers  of  Mithridates,  who  were  his  captives.  He 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  279 

ordered  the  spoils  he  had  gained,  the  arms  and  ensigns  of 
war,  the  prows  of  the  galleys  he  had  taken,  to  be  displayed 
to  public  view  in  the  great  circus,  and  concluded  the  solem- 
nity with  giving  a  feast  to  the  people.  The  senate  hoped 
for  his  support  against  the  ambition  of  Pompey,  and  the 
factious  designs  of  the  popular  leaders;  but  he  was  dis- 
gusted, and  scarcely  ever  after  took  any  part  in  the  an1  airs 
of  state. 

The  triumph  of  Metellus  Creticus  did  not  take  place  till 
after  the  accession  of  the  following  consuls,  P.  Junius  Si- 
lanus  and  Lucius  Murrena,  after  whose  election,  Cicero, 
about  to  resign  his  power  with  the  usual  asseveration,  upon 
oath,  that  he  had  faithfully,  and  to  the  best  of  his  abilities, 
discharged  his  trust;  instead  of  swearing  simply,  that  ho 
had  been  faithful  to  his  trust,  he  took  an  oath  that  he  had 
preserved  the  republic.  It  was  on  this  occasion,  probably, 
that  Cato,  now  a  tribune,  in  a  speech  to  the  people,  alluding 
to  the  suppression  of  the  late  conspiracy,  called  Cicero  the 
father  of  his  country. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  the  new  magistrates,  a  storm 
began  to  gather,  which,  though  still  aimed  at  the  party  of 
the  senate,  burst  at  last  in  a  personal  attack  upon  the  late 
consul  who  had  been  the  author  or  instrument  of  the  sen- 
ate in  the  summary  proceedings  against  the  accomplices  of 
Catiline.*  Metellus  Nepos,  lately  entered  on  the  office  of 
tribune,  moved  in  the  senate,  as  had  been  usual  in  the  times 
of  its  highest  authority,  for  leave  to  propose  a  decree  in  the 
assembly  of  the  people  recalling  Pompey  from  Asia  at  the 
head  of  his  forces,  in  order  to  restore  the  constitution  of 
the  commonwealth,  which,  he  alleged,  had  been  violated  by 
the  arbitrary  administration  of  Cicero.  This  was  the  first 
attempt  of  the  popular  party  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the 
people  on  the  subject  of  the  late  executions;  and  Pompey 
was,  in  this  manner,  ottered  to  the  popular  party  as  their 
leader  to  avenge  the  supposed  wrongs  they  had  received. 
Cato,  when  the  matter  was  proposed  in  the  senate,  endeav- 
oured to  persuade  Metellus  to  drop  it,  reminded  him  of  the 
dignity  of  his  family,  which  had  been  always  a  principal 
ornament  and  support  to  the  state.  This  treatment  served 
only  to  raise  the  presumption  of  Metellus,  and  brought  on 
a  violent  altercation  between  the  tribunes.  The  senate 
applauded  Cato,  but  had  not  authority  enough  to  prevent 
the  motion  which  Mas  proposed  from  being  made  to  the 
people. 

Metellus,  apprehending  an  obstinate  resistance  from  kb 

•  U.  c.  691. 


280  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  111. 

colleague,  endeavoured  to  fill  the  place  of  assembly  with  his 
awn  partisans ;  and,  on  the  evening  before  the  meeting-,  in 
order  to  intimidate  his  opponents,  paraded  in  the  streets 
with  a  numerous  attendance  of  men  in  arms.  On  the  fol- 
lowing1 day,  this  party  being  again  assembled  by  Metellus, 
at  the  temple  of  Castor,  and  the  place  having  been  in  the 
night  occupied  by  persons  under  his  direction,  armed  with 
sticks,  swords,  and  other  offensive  weapons,  Cato  went 
forth  attended  only  by  Minucius  Thermus,  another  of  the 
tribunes,  and  a  few  friends.  When  they  came  to  the  bench 
of  tribunes,  they  found  that  Metellus,  with  the  pretor 
Julius  Cesar,  had  token  their  places  there ;  and  that,  in 
order  to  concert  their  operations  in  the  conduct  of  this 
affair,  they  were  closery  seated  together.  Cato,  to  disap- 
point this  intention,  forced  himself  in  betwixt  them,  and, 
when  the  ordinary  officer,  began  to  read  the  intended  de- 
cree, interposed  his  negative,  and  forbade  him  to  proceed, 
Metellus  himself  seized  the  writing,  and  began  to  read ;  but 
Cato  snatched  it  out  of  his  hands.  Metellus  endeavoured 
to  repeat  the  substance  of  it  from  his  memory.  Thermus 
clapped  his  hand  to  his  mouth.  A  general  silence  reigned 
in  the  assembly,  till  Metellus,  having  made  a  signal  for  his 
party  to  clear  the  comitium  of  their  enemies,  a  great 
tumult  and  confusion  arose ;  and  the  tribunes  who  opposed 
Metellus  were  in  imminent  danger.  The  senators  had  met 
in  mourning,  to  mark  their  sense  of  the  evils  which  threat- 
ened the  commonwealth;  and  now  gave  a  charge  to  the 
consuls  to  watch  over  the  safety  of  the  state. 

In  consequence  of  this  charge,  the  consul  Murrena  np- 
peared  with  a  body  of  men  in  arms,  and  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  rescue  Cato ;  and  Thermus  Metellus  abandoned  the 
city,  even  left  Italy,  and  fled  to  the  camp  of  Pompey  in 
Asia,  from  which  he  was  lately  arrived.  Pompey  was,  at 
this  conjuncture,  with  his  army  moving  towards  Italy,  and 
his  coming  was  matter  of  great  solicitude  to  the  friends  of 
the  commonwealth,  who  feared  that,  in  return  to  the  affront 
of  his  not  being  invited  to  come  with  his  army,  upon  the 
motion  of  Metellus,  he  would  employ  it  in  person  to  enforce 
his  commands.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Brundusium,  however, 
as  formerly  upon  his  return  from  Africa,  he  dispelled  those 
fears  by  an  immediate  dismission  of  the  troops,  with  in- 
structions, merely  that  they  would  attend  at  his  triumph. 
He  himself  came  forward  to  Rome  with  the  single  equipage 
of  his  proconsular  rank.  Multitudes  of  every  condition 
went  forth  to  receive  him,  and  with  shouts  and  acclama- 
tions recompensed  the  moderation  with  which  he  acqui- 
esced in  the  condition  of  a  citizen. 


Cil.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  *81 

It  was  probably  during  this  year  in  which  Cesar  was 
prctor,  that  Cesar  promoted  prosecutions  upon  a  charge  of 
assassination  against  some  persons  concerned  in  the  execu- 
tion of  Sylla's  proscriptions.  While  he  seemed  to  have 
formed  so  many  designs  against  the  peace  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  in  the  capacity  of  pretor  supported  them  with 
the  authority  of  a  magistrate,  the  senatorian  party  made  a 
powerful  exertion  of  their  influence  to  have  him  suspended, 
and  actually  obtained  a  decree  for  this  purpose.  He  affected 
at  first  to  slight  their  authority ;  but  finding  that  a  power 
was  preparing  to  enforce  it,  he  abstained  from  the  func- 
tions of  his  office,  until,  having  rejected  an  offer  of  the  peo- 
ple to  restore  him  by  force,  he  was,  with  proper  marks  of 
regard,  for  this  instance  of  moderation,  reinstated  by  an 
act  of  the  senate. 

The  aristocratical  party,  at  the  same  time,  to  confirm  and 
perpetuate  the  evidence  on  which  they  proceeded  against 
the  accomplices  of  Catiline,  continued  their  prosecutions  on 
this  subject ;  and  Crassus  and  Cesar  were  accused  as  acces- 
sary to  his  conspiracy.  But  the  whole  of  these  proceedings 
were  suspended  by  the  approach  of  Pompey.  This  leader 
had  no\v  drawn  the  attention  of  all  men  upon  himself,  was 
quoted  in  every  harangue  as  the  great  support  of  the  em- 
pire, and  courted  by  multitudes,  who,  without  inquiry, 
affected  to  be  classed  with  his  admirers  and  friends,  the 
contagion  spreading  like  a  fashion  among  the  vulgar  of 
every  description.  Having  previously  sent  Piso,  one  of  his 
lieutenants,  before  him  to  stand  for  the  consulate,  he  had 
the  presumption  to  desire  that  the  senate  would  defer  the 
elections  until  he  himself  could  be  present  to  canvass  for 
his  friend.  Piso,  however,  was  elected  together  with  Vale- 
rius Messala,  and  entered  on  his  office  before  the  triumph 
of  Pompey. 

This  solemnity  followed  soon  after ;  and,  though  con- 
tinued for  two  days,  could  not  make  place  for  all  the  mag- 
nificent shows  that  had  been  provided  for  it.*  The  list  of 
conquests  exceeded  that  which  had  ever  been  produced  at 
any  other  triumph.  Asia,  Pontus,  Armenia,  Cappadocia 
paphlagonm,  Media,  Colchis,  Iberia,  Albania,  Syria,  Cilicm, 
.flesopotamia,  Phanicia,  Judea,  Arabia,  Scythia,  Crete, 
with  the  sea  in  all  its  coasts.  Among  the  people  or  poten- 
tates subdued,  wore  the  Bastanue,  Mithridates,  and  Tig- 
ranes.  Among  the  captures,  a  thousand  fortresses,  nine 
hundred  cities  reduced,  eight  hundred  galleys  taken,  and 
*bove  two  millions  of  men  in  captivity.  Towns  repeo- 


282  HISTORY    OF  THE  [B.  Ill 

repcopled,  not  less  than  three  hundred  and  ninety-nine. 
To  this  pompous  list,  it  was  subjoined  by  his  friends,  that, 
this  being  his  third  triumph,  he  had  been  round  the  known 
world,  and  had  triumphed  over  all  the  three  parts  of  the 
earth,  Africa,  Europe,  and  Asia. 

After  rewarding  the  soldiers,  of  whom  none  received  less 
than  fifteen  hundred  denarii,*  he  carried  to  the  treasury 
twenty  thousand  talents.t  He  led,  among  his  principal 
captives,  besides  the  chief  pirates,  Tigranes,  son  to  the  king 
of  Armenia,  with  his  wife  and  his  daughter, — Zo/ime,  the 
queen  of  Tigranes,— the  father  Aristobulus,  king  of  the 
Jews, — a  sister  of  Mithridates  with  five  sons,  and  some  Scy- 
thian women  ;— the  hostages  of  the  Iberi,  and  the  Comma- 
geni,  together  with  trophies  for  every  battle  he  had  fought, 
making  in  all  a  more  splendid  exhibition  than  any  that  was 
to  be  found  on  the  records  of  the  state. 

In  these  solemnities,  executed  for  the  honour  of  Pompey, 
were  admitted  whatever  could  distinguish  or  signalize  the 
occasion.  Among  these,  there  were  many  costly  orna- 
ments of  gold  and  of  precious  stones,  which  were  fabricated 
on  purpose  to  be  shown ;  and  the  whole  conducted  with 
more  arrangement  and  order,  than  were  necessary,  per- 
haps, in  the  disposition  of  any  of  the  battles  which  the  tri- 
umph was  intended  to  celebrate.  Among  the  images, 
representations,  and  memorials  which  were  carried  before 
the  victor  on  this  occasion,  there  was  held  up  to  view  a 
state  of  the  public  revenue,  from  which  it  appeared,  that, 
before  Pompey's  time  it  amounted  to  no  more  than  fifky 
millions  ;J  and  that  the  addition  which  he  alone  brought  to 
it  amounted  to  eighty-five  millions.  || 


CHAP.  V. 

Transaction*  at  Rome,  and  in  the  Provinces—  Julius  Cesar  appointed  »•• 
the  quality  of  Pruprelor  to  his  first  Province  of  Lusitania  —  Trial  of 
Clodius — Proposed  Adoption  into  a  Plebeian  Family  to  qualify  him  far 
the  Office  of  Tribune— Cesar,  a  Candidate  for  the  Consulship  — The 
Triumvirate  of  Cesar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus— Consulship  of  Cesar- 
Motion  of  Vatinius,  to  confer  on  Cesar,  for  five  years,  the  Command  in 
Gaul— Marriage  of  Pompey  to  Julia— Of  Cesar  to  Calpurnia—  Consul- 
ate of  Lucius  CaJpurmus  and  A.  Gabinius — Attack  made  upon  Cicero 
by  Clodius- His  Exile. 

POMPEY,  at  his  departure  from  Syria,  left  that  provide* 
*  About  50r  t  About  3,860,000:.  t  416.CGG/.  U  703,333*. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  2S3 

with  two  legions  under  the  command  of  .TJnilius  Scauriw, 
one  of  his  lieutenants.  This  officer  occupied  the  country 
from  the  Euphrates  to  the  frontier  of  Egypt,  and  continued 
the  war  which  his  predecessor  had  begun  with  the  Arabs. 

Caius  Antonius,  the  late  colleague  of  Cicero  in  the  con- 
sulate, soon  after  the  defeat  of  Catiline,  proceeded  to  the 
province  of  Macedonia,  of  which,  by  the  arrangements  of 
the  year,  he  had  been  appointed  governor.  He  entered  hit 
province  with  the  ensigns  of  victory,  which  had  been  ob- 
tained by  the  defeat  of  Catiline  ;  but  the  ;e  he  soon  forfeited 
by  his  misconduct  in  a  war  against  the  Thracians,  and  by 
Ihe  disgrace  which  he  otherwise  incurred  for  the  msil- ad- 
ministration of  his  province. 

The  Allobroges,  though  deprived  of  the  support  they 
were  made  to  expect  from  the  party  of  Catiline,  neverthe- 
less took  arms,  and  invaded  the  Roman  province  of  Gau\. 
After  a  variety  of  events,  they  were  repulsed  by  Pontinius, 
tvho  then  commanded  the  Roman  forces  in  that  quarter, 
ind  forced  to  retire  into  their  own  country. 

About  the  same  time,  Caius  Julius  Cesar,  upon  the  ex- 
piration of  his  term  in  the  office  of  pretor,  obtained  his  first 
Military  command,  receiving  by  lot  the  government  of 
Lusitania,  where,  under  different  pretences,  he  found  an 
opportunity  to  quarrel  with  the  natives,  to  show  Ms  capa- 
city for  war,  and  to  lay  some  ground  for,  his  claim  to  a  tri- 
umph. In  pushing  his  way  to  the  preferments  which  he 
aow  held  in  the  state,  he  had  ruined  his  fortune  by  larges- 
ses, public  shows,  and  entertainments  to  the  people,  by  his 
lavish  bounty  in  private  to  needy  and  profligate  citizens, 
and  in  supporting  every  desperate  cause  against  the  senate 
and  the  government;  and  is  reported  to  have  said  of  him- 
self, that  he  needed  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  Roman 
money,  or  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, to  be  worth  nothing. 

A  person,  who,  in  any  other  state  than  that  of  Rome, 
could  suppose  such  a  fortune  reparable,  must  have  thought 
of  means  alarming  to  the  state  itself;  but  Cesar  had  now 
quitted  the  paths  of  pleasure  for  those  of  ambition ;  and,  in 
an  empire  which  extended  over  so  many  opulent  provin- 
ces, could  easily  proportion  his  wealth  to  the  extent  of  his 
power.  Although  the  province  into  which  he  was  then  sent 
was  none  of  the  richest,  and  was  only  a  step  to  somewhat 
farther,  more  considerable,  and  more  likely  to  supply  him 
with  the  means  of  pursuing  the  objects  of  his  ambition,  he 
was  nevertheless  reported  to  have  supplied  Ids  own  wants 
find  to  have  enriched  his  army. 

In  passing  the  Alps,  on  his  way  into  Spain,  at  a  village 


284  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

<m  the  way,  one  of  his  company  observed,  that  "  Here 
too  there  are  probably  parties  and  contests  for  power." 
*«  Ay,"  said  Cesar,  "and  I  would  rather  be  the  first  man  in 
this  place  than  the  second  at  Rome."  Upon  his  arrival  in 
Lusitania,  he  made  the  necessary  augmentation  of  the 
army,  and  soon  overran  all  the  districts  that  were  disposed 
to  resist  his  authority.  With  the  same  ability  with  which 
he  conducted  his  military  operations,  he  supported  the  dig- 
nity of  a  Roman  governor,  no  less  in  the  civil  than  in  the 
military  department. 

While  these  things  passed  in  the  provinces,  the  city  was 
occupied  with  ordinary  affairs,  and  suffered  an  increase  of 
the  political  distempers  with  which  the  public  had  been  for 
some  time  infected.  The  expense  and  dissipation  attend- 
ing the  public  shows,  in  particular,  were  augmented  to  a 
great  degree. 

About  the  same  time  happened  the  memorable  trial  of 
Publius  Clodius,  for  the  scandal  he  had  given  by  profaning 
the  sacred  rites  in  Cesar's  house.  It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Pom- 
peia,  as  being  wife  to  one  of  the  pretors  in  office,  to  cele- 
brate, at  her  house,  the  festival  of  a  certain  female  deity  * 
worshipped  by  the  Romans ;  and  at  whose  rites  women 
alone  were  admitted.  Clodius  took  this  opportunity  to 
carry  on  his  intrigue ;  and  put  himself  in  a  female  dress, 
expecting  to  pass  for  a  woman ;  but  his  voice  betrayed  him . 
A  cry  of  amazement  and  horror  was  immediately  raised, 
communicated  through  all  the  apartments,  and  the  occa- 
sion of  it  discovered  to  the  matrons,  who  were  met  to  cele- 
brate the  rites.  Clodius  escaped,  but  not  without  being 
known.  The  college  of  pontiffs  made  a  report,  that  the 
sacred  rites  had  been  profaned  ;  and  the  senate  ordered  the 
trial  of  the  accused. 

Clodius,  by  his  profligacy,  had  incurred  a  general  detes- 
tation ;  and  many  of  the  senators  combined,  as  the  likeliest 
way  of  removing  him  from  the  commonwealth,  in  urging 
the  prosecution  against  him. 

He  himself,  foreseeing  this  storm,  had  taken  refuge  in 
the  popxilar  party,  and  endeavoured  to  silence  the  voice  of 
infamy,  by  professing  extraordinary  zeal  for  the  people,  and 
vehement  opposition  to  the  senate.  These  parties  accord- 
ingly  became  interested  in  the  issue  of  his  cause. 

At  length  the  trial  came  on.  Hortensius,  who  conducted 
the  trial,  was  confident  that  no  jury  could  acquit  the  ac- 
cused ;  but  the  majority  suffered  themselves  to  be  cor- 
rupted, and  took  money  in  the  course  of  the  trial ;  so  that 

*  Called  the  Bona  Dem. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REi'uisijic.  285 

of  fifty-six  judges  that  were  enclosed,  twenty-five  gave 
their  voice  to  condemn,  and  thirty-one  to  acquit. 

Pompey,  in  the  course  of  this  transaction,  had  been 
obliged  to  declare  himself  for  the  senate ;  but  his  object 
was  to  be  on  good  terms  with  all  parties,  and  to  manage 
his  interest,  by  having  some  of  his  creatures  always  chosen 
into  the  highest  offices  of  state.  He  ottered,  as  candidate 
for  the  consulate  of  the  following  year,  Afranius,  one  of  hit 
dependants,  who  is  represented  by  Cicero  as  a  person  of 
mean  character,  and  who,  having  no  personal  dignity,  nor 
anv  credit  with  the  people,  was  supported  in  his  canvass  by 
money  alone.  Afranius  was  elected,  together  with  Q. 
Cecilius  Metellus  Celer. 

Upon  the  accession  of  the  new  consuls,  several  other 
matters,  tending  to  innovation  and  public  disturbance,  were 
introduced.  Metellus  Nepos,  late  tribune,  being  now  in 
the  office  of  pretor,  procured  a  law  to  abolish  the  customs 
payable  at  any  of  the  ports  of  Italy.  The  Romans,  as  has 
been  observed,  upon  the  accession  of  wealth  derived  from 
Macedonia,  had  exempted  themselves  from  all  the  ancient 
assessments,  and  they  no\v  completed  the  exemption  of  all 
the  Italians  from  every  tax  besides  that  of  quit-rents  for 
public  lands,  and  the  twentieth  penny  on  the  value  of  slaves 
when  sold  or  emancipated.  They  were  become  the  sover- 
eigns of  a  great  empire,  and  as  such,  thought  themselves 
entitled  to  receive,  not  obliged  to  pay,  contributions. 

Another  motion  was  made  in  which  Pompey  was  deeply 
interested.  It  related  to  the  provision  to  be  made  for  the 
soldiers  of  Pompey,  and  was,  by  L.  Flavius,  ou«>  of  the 
tribunes,  moved  in  the  assembly  of  the  people,  under  the 
title  of  an  Agrarian  law. 

The  consul  Metellus  Celer,  supported  by  the  senate, 
strenuously  opposed  the  passing  of  this  law.  The  tribune 
persisted  with  gre.it  obstinacy,  and,  to  remove  the  obstruc- 
tion he  met  with,  committed  the  consul  to  prison  :  but 
matters  were  likely  to  end  in  greater  extremities  than 
suited  the  indirect  and  cautious  conduct  of  Pompey,  and 
the  tribunes  gave  up  the  contest.  About  this  time  Osar 
eturned  to  Home  with  the  reputation  of  victory,  applied 
for  a  triumph,  and,  at  the  s;une  time  made  interest  for  votes 
at  the  approaching  election. 

The  senators  were,  in  general,  now  aware  of  their  danger 
from  Cesar,  and  were  disposed  to  resist  his  applications,  and 
refused  to  grant  him  the  triumph;  but  admitted  him  on 
the  list  of  candidates  for  the  office  of  consul. 

The  people  were  at  this  time  divided  into  a  variety  of 
factions.  Poinpey  and  C'ra— n-^  di-trn-ted  e.u-h  other,  and 
A  A 


«86  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

both  were  jealous  of  Cesar.  Their  divisions  strengthened 
the  party  of  the  senate,  and  furnished  that  body  with  the 
means  of  thwarting  separately  many  of  their  ambitious  de- 
signs. This  Cesar  had  long  perceived,  and  had  paid  hia 
court  both  to  Pompey  and  Crassus,  in  order  to  hinder  their 
joining  the  senate  against  him.  The  expedience  of  this 
precaution  now  appeared  more  clearly  than  ever,  and  he  is 
supposed  to  have  separately  represented  to  these  rivals  the 
advantage  which  their  enemies  derived  from  their  misun- 
derstanding, and  the  ease  with  which,  if  united,  they  might 
concert  among  themselves  all  the  aftairs  of  the  republic, 
gratify  every  friend,  and  disappoint  every  enemy.  Upon 
this  representation  Pompey  and  Crassus  were  reconciled, 
and  agreed  to  act  in  concert  with  Cesar,  and  to  support 
Lim  in  his  pretensions  at  the  approaching  elections. 

This  private  combination,  which  remained  some  time  a 
secret,  was  afterwards,  by  a  kind  of  mockery,  alluding  to 
the  ordinary  names  of  public  office,  taken  from  the  num- 
ber of  tho3e  who  were  joined  in  them,  called  the  triumvirate. 
In  the  mean  time,  these  supposed  leaders  of  opposite  factions, 
in  abating  their  violence  against  each  other,  took  a  favourable 
appearance  of  moderation  and  candour.  They  paid  their 
court  separately  to  persons  whom  they  wished  to  gain,  and 
flattered  them  with  hopes  of  being  able  to  heal  the  divisions 
of  their  country.  This  sort  of  court  they  paid  in  particular 
to  Cicero  ;  and  by  their  flatteries,  and  real  or  pretended  ad- 
miration of  his  talents,  seemed  to  have  got  entire  possession 
of  his  mind.  Few  persons  were  naturally  possessed  of  more 
penetration,  although  it  will  afterwards  appear  how  egre- 
gious! y  he  was  mistaken  on  this  occasion. 

Cesar,  to  the  other  arts  which  he  employed  to  secure  his 
election,  added  the  use  of  money,  which  he  obtained  by 
joining  his  interest,  in  opposition  to  Bibulus,  the  candidate 
supported  by  the  senatorian  party,  with  that  of  Luc- 
reius,  another  of  the  candidates  possessed  of  great  wealth. 
He  himself  having  squandered  his  fortune,  as  has  been  ob- 
served, was  still  greatly  in  debt,  and  Lucceius  willingly  fur- 
nished the  money  that  was  given  to  the  people  in  the  name 
of  both.  The  aristocratical  party  prevailed  in  carrying 
the  election  of  Bibulus  against  Lucceius ;  and  thougk 
they  could  not  exclude  Cesar  from  the  office  of  consul, 
they  hoped,  by  means  of  his  colleague,  to  oppose  and  to 
frustrate  his  designs. 

Cesar,  well  aware  of  their  purpose,  in  the  opening  of  his 
administration,  guarded  his  own  behaviour  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  moderation  and  candour,  paid  his  court  not 
onlv  to  lead«»*-s  of  faction,  but  to  persons  of  every  descrip- 


CH.  V.I  KOMAN   KEPUBMC.  287 

tion.  and  while  he  took  care  to  espouse  the  popular  side  in 
every  question,  was  active  in  devising  regulations  for  the 
better  government  of  the  empire :  so  that  the  senate, 
however  inclined  to  counteract  his  designs,  as  calculated 
to  raise  himself  on  the  ruins  of  the  commonwealth,  could 
scarcely,  wiih  a  good  grace,  oppose  him  in  any  particular 
measure. 

This  consulate  is  distinguished  by  the  passing  of  many 
laws,  particularly  this,  which  was  devised  for  the  settle- 
ment of  citizens  on  certain  public  lands  ;  and  therefore 
known  by  the  title  of  the  Agrarian  law.  On  this  act  Cesar 
was  to  rest  his  popularity,  and  his  triumph  over  the  senate. 
He  gave  out  that  he  was  to  make  a  provision  for  twenty 
thousand  citizens,  without  any  burden  to  the  revenue. 
He  declared,  that  he  did  not  mean  to  strip  the  revenue  of 
any  branch  that  was  known  to  carry  protit  to  the  public, 
nor  to  make  any  partial  distribution  in  favour  of  his 
friends  ;  that  he  only  meant  to  plant  with  inhabitants  cer- 
tain unprofitable  wastes,  and  to  provide  for  a  number  of 
citizens,  who,  being  indigent  and  uneasy  in  their  circum- 
stances, filled  the  city  itself  with  frequent  disorders  and 
tumults ;  and  that  he  would  not  proceed  a  step  without 
consulting"  the  senate,  and  persons  of  credit  and  authority 
in  the  state.  In  a  way  to  save  these  appearances,  and  with 
these  professions,  Cesar  formed  the  first  draught  of  an  act 
which  he  brought  to  the  senate  for  their  approbation,  and 
the  support  of  their  authority  in  proposing  it  to  the  people. 

Odious  as  the  task  of  opposition  on  such  difficult  ground 
might  appear  to  the  people,  the  senate  did  not  decline  it. 
Cato  being  asked  his  opinion  in  his  turn,  answered,  that  he 
sa\v  no  occasion  for  the  change  that  was  now  proposed  in 
the  state  of  the  public  lands ;  and  entered  on  an  argument 
with  x\  Inch  he  endeavoured  to  exhaust  the  whole  time  of 
the  sitting  of  the  senate,  and  to  prevent  their  coming  to  a 
question.  In  this  purpose,  he  was  defeated,  and  the  senate, 
Ht'ter  a  struggle,  yielded  the  question. 

At  the  first  assembly  of  the  people,  Cesar  proposed  his 
scheme  to  impropriate  the  lands  of  Campania,  with  somt* 
valuable  additions;  and  first  of  all  called  on  his  colleague 
liibulus  to  declare  his  mind  on  the  subject.  Bibulus  spoke 
nii  dissent;  and  in  vehement  terms  declared,  that  no  such 
alienation  of  the  public  demesne  should  be  made  in  his  con- 
sulate. Ce.-,ar  next  calh-d  upon  I'ompey.  though  in  a  pri- 
vate station  ;  and  the  audience,  ignorant  of  the  concert 
into  which  the-,e  leaders  had  entered,  were  impatient  to 
hear  him  on  the  subject  of  a  measure  which  was  likely  to 
elevate  :i  supposed  rival  so  hi-h  in  the  favour  of  the  u.'oule. 


238  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

To  the  surprise  of  all  \vlio  were  present,  Pompey  applauded 
the  general  design,  and,  in  a  speech  of  considerable  length, 
discussed  all  the  clauses  of  the  act,  and  with  great  approba* 
lion  of  each. 

To  oppose  a  measure  so  popular,  and  from  which  such 
numbers  had  great  expectations,  no  means  remained  so 
likely  to  succeed  as  superstition.  To  this  aid  Bibulus  ac- 
cordingly had  recourse,  and,  by  virtue  of  the  authority  with 
\vhich  he  was  vestetl,  proclaimed  a  general  fast,  and  a  sus- 
pension for  the  present  year  of  all  the  affairs  of  state.  The 
/design  of  this  suspension,  and  the  extravagant  length  of  time 
to  which  it  was  extended,  probably  enabled  his  colleague  to 
treat  it  with  contempt,  and  to  proceed  in  the  design  of  put- 
ing  his  question,  as  if  no  such  proclamation  had  been  issued. 
The  assembly  was  accordingly  summoned  in  the  temple  ot 
concord.  Cesar,  early  in  the  morning,  secured  all  the 
avenues  and  the  steps  of  the  portico  with  an  armed  force ; 
had  Vatinius,  one  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people  who  was 
entirely  devoted  to  his  interest,  and  even  in  his  pay,  stationed 
with  this  party,  in  order  to  take  the  odium  of  all  violent 
measures  on  himself  Bibulus,  however,  attended  by  numbers 
of  the  senate,  and  three  of  the  tribunes,  who  were  prepared, 
by  their  negative,  to  put  a  stop  to  every  proceeding,  came 
into  the  place  of  assembly  with  a  firm  countenance;  he  pro- 
tested against  the  legality  of  any  meeting  to  be  formed  in  a 
time  of  general  fast:  but  the  opposite  party  being  in 
possession  of  the  temple,  forced  him  from  the  steps,  broke 
the  ensigns  of  the  lictors,  wounded  the  tribunes  that  inter- 
posed in  his  defence,  and  effectually  removed  all  farther 
obstruction  to  their  o\vn  designs.  The  question  then  being 
put,  the  law  passed  without  opposition,  including  a  clause 
to  oblige  every  senator,  under  pain  of  exile  or  death,  to  swear 
to  the  observance  of  it. 

The  consul  Bibulus,  and  even  Cato,  though  far  removed 
from  any  ambiguity  of  conduct,  sa\v  no  possibility  of  resist- 
ing the  torrent.  The  first  retired  to  his  o\vn  house,  and 
from  thence  forward,  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  did 
not  appear  in  any  public  place.  Cato  absented  himself  from 
the  senate. 

While  Cesar  engrossed  the  full  exercise  of  the  consular 
power,  Bibulus  was  content  with  issuing  his  edicts  or 
manifestos  in  writing,  containing  protests,  by  which  lie 
endeavoured  to  stop  all  proceedings  in  public  affairs  on 
account  of  the  religious  fast,  or  continuation  of  holidays, 
'  which  he  had  instituted  to  restrain  his  colleague.  That  ablt? 
adventurer,  though  suspected  of  the  deepest  designs,  went 
still  deeper  in  laying-  his  measures  for  the  execution  of  them 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  2S9 

than  his  keenest  opponents  supposed.  He  found  means  lo 
tie  up  every  hand  that  \va>  likely  to  be  lifted  up  against  him- 
self; as  those  of  Pompey  and  Crassus,  by  their  secret  agree- 
ment, of  which  the  articles  were  gradually  disclosed  in  th 
effect.  He  confirmed  to  Pompey  all  the  acts  of  his  adminis- 
tration in  Asia,  and,  by  putting  him  on  the  commission  for 
dividing  the  lands  of  Campania,  and  for  settling  a  colony  at 
Capua,  gave  him  an  opportunity,  which  the  other  earnestly 
desired,  of  providing  for  many  necessitous  citizens  of  hia 
party.  He  nattered  Crassus  sufficiently,  by  placing  him  on 
the  same  commission,  and  by  admitting  him  to  a  supposed 
equal  participation  of  that  political  consequence  which  the 
triumvirs  proposed  to  secure  by  their  union.  He  gained 
the  equestrian  order,  by  granting  a  suit  which  they  had  long 
in  dependence,  for  a  diminution  of  the  rents  payable  by  the 
revenue  farmers  in  Asia. 

With  his  consent  and  under  his  authority,  Funus,  one  of 
the  pretors,  and  Vatinius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  obtained  two 
laws,  both  of  them  equitable  and  salutary :  the  first  relating 
to  the  use  of  the  ballot  in  the  eomitia,  or  assembly  of  the 
people :  the  other,  relating  to  the  challenge  of  parties  in  the 
nomination  of  judges  or  juries.  Fufitis  proposed  that  the 
orders  of  Patrician,  Equestrian,  and  Plebeian,  should  ballot 
apart ;  and  this  regulation  liad  some  tendency  to  restore  the 
influence  of  the  superior  classes.  Vatinius  proposed  that 
in  criminal  actions,  when  the  judges  were  drawn  by  lot,  the 
defendant  and  prosecutors  might,  in  their  turns,  challenge, 
or  strike  oft'  from  the  list,  person*  to  whom  they  took  a 
particular  exception. 

Cesar  himself  was  busy  in  devising  new  regulations  te 
reform  the  mode  of  elections,  and  to  improve  the  forms  of 
business  ia  some  of  the  public  departments.  With  these 
acts  he  adorned  his  consulate,  and  in  some  measure  dis- 
countenanced the  party  which  was  disposed  to  traduce  him. 
He  is,  nevertheless,  accused  of  having  stolen  from  the 
treasury,  to  which  he  had  access  in  the  capacity  of  consul, 
burs  of  gold  weighing  three  thousand  pondo,  and  of  having 
concealed  the  theft  by  substituting  brass  gilt,  and  of  the  same 
form,  in  its  place.* 

Whatever  foundation  there  may  have  been  for  thii  report, 
it  soon  appeared  that  Cesar  had  objects  of  a  more  serioua 
nature,  could  copy,  on  occasion,  the  example  of  Pompey, 
and,  in  his  manner,  cause  what  was  personal  to  himself  to 
be  proposed  by  oUers,  whom  he  might  be  free  to  support 

*  Suoton.  in  Jut.  *.  5*.  C«>sar  in  Mid  to  have  sold  the  gold  bullion 
v;  brought  from  Spain  at  3000  II.  S.  or  about  2J/.  of  our  money.  Tint 
will  make  bis  alleffed  theft  about  75,000/L 


»>!)(>  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

i»r  disavow  according  to  the  reception  which  his  proposal 
met  from  the  public.  It  (ran not  be  doubted  that he  now  con- 
reived  the  design  of  bringing1  a  military  force  to  support  hi» 
pretensions  in  tlu»  city.  Hitherto  kingly  power  being  odious 
at  Rome,  whoever  had  aspired  to  it  had  always  perished  in 
the  attempt,  and  the  mere  imputation,  however  supported, 
was  fatal.  The  most  profligate  party  among  the  populace 
were  unable  or  unwilling  to  support  their  demagogues  to 
this  extent ;  and  the  people  in  general  became  jealous  of 
their  most  respectable  citizens,  when  it  appeared  that  merit 
itself  approached  to  monarchical  elevation. 

The  republic  had  taken  many  precautions  to  prevent  the 
introduction  of  military  power  at  Rome.  Although  the 
functions  of  state  and  of  war  were  intrusted  to  the  same 
persons,  yet  the  civil  and  military  characters,  except  in  the 
case  of  a  dictator,  were  never  united  at  once  in  the  same 
person.  The  officer  of  state  resigned  his  civil  power 
before  he  became  a  soldier,  and  the  soldier  was  obliged  in 
lay  aside  his  military  ensigns  and  character  before  he  could 
eater  the  city  ;  and  if  he  sued  for  a  triumph  in  his  military 
rapacity,  must  remain  without  the  walls  till  that  suit  wa* 
discussed.  The  command  of  armies  and  of  provinces  in  the 
per&on  of  any  officer  was  limited  to  a  single  year  at  a  time, 
at  the  end  of  which,  if  it  were  not  expressly  prolonged,  it 
was  understood  to  expire,  and  to  devolve  on  a  successor 
named  by  the  senate. 

That  no  leader  of  a  party  might  have  an  army  at  hand  to 
overawe  the  republic,  no  military  station  was  supposed  to 
exist  within  the  limits  of  Italy.  The  purpose,  however,  of 
this  precaution  was  in  some  measure  frustrated  by  the  near 
situation  of  a  province  in  which  an  army  was  kept  within 
the  Alps.  Italy  was  understood  to  extend  only  from  the 
noa  of  Tarentum  to  the  Arnus  and  the  Rubicon :  beyond 
i  licse  boundaries,  on  the  north-west,  all  those  extensive  and 
rich  tracts  oil  both  sides  of  the  Apennines,  and  within  the 
Alps,  which  now  make  the  duchies  of  Ferrara,  Bologna, 
Mmlcna,  Milan,  the  states  of  Piedmont  and  Venice,  with  the 
duchy  of  Curniola,  and  the  whole  of  Lombardy,  were  con- 
sidered, not  as  a  part  of  Italy,  but  as  a  province  termed  the 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  and,  like  the  other  Roman  provinces,  was 
held  by  a  military  officer,  supported  by  an  army. 

The  Cisalpine  Gaul  was  peculiarly  suited  to  the  purpose 
of  Cesar.  But  the  distribution  of  the  provinces  was  still 
witliin  the  prerogative  of  the  senate;  and  the  provincial 
governments  we  re  filled  by  their  appointment,  in  pursuance 
of  an  express  regulation  ascribed  to  Caius  Gracchus,  and 
known,  from  his  name,  by  the  title  of  the  Smupnutiiui  Livr. 


CH,  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  *Jl 

Cesar  had  ever  been  at  variance  with  the  greater  part  d 
the  senators,  and  it  was  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  this 
object,  to  set  aside  the  authority  of  the  senate,  and  procure 
liis  nomination  by  some  degree  of  surprise.  The  tribune 
Vatinius  accordingly,  upon  a  rumour  that  the  Helvetii,  or 
the  nations  inhabiting  from  mount  Jura  to  the  Alps,  were 
likely  to  cause  some  commotion  on  the  frontier  of  Gaul, 
movel  the  people  to  set  aside  the  law  of  Sempronius,  and, 
by  virtue  of  their  own  supreme  power,  to  name  Cesar  as 
proconsul  of  the  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  Illyricum  for  five 
years  with  an  army  of  three  legions.  The  senatorian 
party,  as  might  have  been  expected,  were  greatly  alarmed 
at  this  proposal.  They  vainly,  however,  hoped  to  evade  it 
l>y  substituting  another  appointment  for  Cesar  in  place  of 
this  province.  A  weak  attempt,  however,  which  they  made 
for  this  purpose  against  so  able  an  adversary,  only  tended 
to  expose  the  meaning  of  those  by  whom  it  was  made,  and 
l»y  showing  to  the  senate  their  own  weakness,  hurried 
them  into  concessions  which  perhaps  might  have  been 
otherwise  avoided.  In  order  that  Cesar  might  not  owe 
every  thing  to  the  people  and  nothing  to  them,  they  ex- 
tended his  command  at  once  to  both  sides  of  the  Alps,  they 
ioined  to  his  province  on  the  Po  that  of  the  Transalpine? 
Gaul,  with  an  additional  legion.  In  this  manner,  whether* 
from  these  or  any  similar  reasons,  it  is  affirmed  by  some  of 
the  historians,  that  the  senate  even  outran  the  people  in 
concessions  to  Cesar ;  and  to  this  occasion  is  referred  the 
memorable  saying  of  Cato :  "  Now  you  have  taken  to  your- 
selves a  king,  and  have  placed  him  with  his  guards  in  your 
citadel." 

Cesar,  at  the  same  time,  on  the  motion  of  the  tribune 
Vatinius,  was  empowered  to  settle  a  Roman  colony  on  the 
lake  Larius  at  Novum  Comum,  with  full  authority  to  con- 
fer the  privilege  of  Roman  citi/ens  on  those  who  should 
settle  in  this  place.  Having  obtained  the  great  object  of 
his  consulate,  he  insulted  the  senate,  and  no  longer  disguised 
aia  connexion  with  Pompey  and  Crassus,  or  the  means  by 
which,  in  his  late  measures,  the  concurrence  of  these  rivals 
had  been  obtained. 

As  such  combinations  and  cabals  generally  have  an  invi- 
dious aspect  to  those  \vho  are  excluded  from  them,  the 
triumvirate,  for  so  it  began  to  be  called  in  detestation  and 
irony,*  notwithstanding  the  popularity  or  influence  enjoyed 

*  The  title*  of  duumvirs,  triumvirs,  and  §o  on,  were  the  detonation* 
of  legal  commissions  at  Rome  acting  under  public  authority  ;  such 
title  was  given  to  the  private  coalition  of  these  adventurers  in  mer« 
irony. 


292  HISTORY  OF  THE  fB.  III. 

by  those  who  had  formed  it,  became  an  object  of  aversion 
and  general  abuse.  They  were  received  at  all  public  places 
with  groans  and  expressions  of  hatred.  Pompey  lost  his 
temper  and  his  spirit,  and  sank  in  his  consideration  as  much 
as  Cesar  advanced  in  power.  It  became  manifest  even  to 
the  people,  that  Cesar  had  procured  their  conjunction  for 
his  own  conveniency ;  but  Pompey  himself  probably  felt 
that  he  was  too  far  advanced  to  recede. 

The  senate,  and  all  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Rome, 
though  unanimous  in  their  detestation  of  the  design  that 
was  formed  by  Cesar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus,  to  dispose  of 
the  republic  at  their  pleasure,  yet  either  were,  or  believed 
themselves,  unable  to  cope  with  the  power  of  so  many  fac 
tions  united. 

Cato,  with  his  declared  disapprobation  of  the  late 
measures,  was  reduced  to  the  single  expedient  of  assisting 
Bibulus  in  draw  ing  up  the  edicts  or  manifestos  against  the 
proceedings  of  Cesar,  which  were  at  this  time  received 
with  much  avidity  by  the  people. 

Cicero  now  declined  taking  part  in  any  affair  of  state ; 
but  being  known  for  an  advocate,  was  courted  in  this  capa- 
city by  many  citizens,  who  had  affairs  in  dependence  before 
the  courts  of  justice,  and  apprehending  an  attack  which 
was  likely  to  be  made  upon  himself,  on  account  of  the 
transactions  of  his  consulate,  he  avoided,  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, giving  offence  to  any  of  the  parties  which  divided  the 
commonwealth.  The  storm  was  to  be  directed  against  him 
by  Publius  Clodius,  under  whose  animosity  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  nobles,  and  to  Cicero  in  particular,  it  was  per- 
ceived  for  some  time  to  be  gathering. 

This  bustling  profligate  having,  in  the  former  year,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  qualified  for  tribune  of  the  people, 
got  himself  adopted  into  a  plebeian  family,  could  not  obtain 
the  necessary  ratification  of  the  deed  of  adoption  in  the  as- 
sembly of  the  Curiae,  until  his  cause  was  espoused  by  Cesar, 
who  seems  to  have  taken  his  part,  in  resentment  of  some 
insinuations  thrown  out  against  himself  by  Cicero  in 
pleading  for  M.  Antonius,  his  late  colleague  in  the  consu- 
late. Antonius  being,  on  account  of  his  administration  iu 
Macedonia,  accused  of  extortion,  was  defended  by  Cicero, 
who  took  that  occasion  to  lament  the  state  of  the  republic, 
brought  under  subjection  as  it  was  by  a  cabal  which  ruled 
by  violence,  and  in  contempt  of  the  law.  Cesar  was 
greatly  provoked:  and  determining  not  to  leave  Cicero 
at  the  head  of  the  senatorian  party  to  operate  against  him, 
permitted  the  act  of  adoption  to  pass  in  the  assembly  of  the 
Curiae. 


CM.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  293 

With  these  transactions  the  year  of  Cesar's  consulate 
ilrf\v  to  a  close.  He  ratified  his  treaty  with  Pompey,  by 
giving  him  his  daughter  Julia  in  marriage.  He  himself 
married  the  daughter  of  Calpurnius  Piso,  who,  together 
with  Gabinius,  the  creature  of  Pompey,  was  destined  to 
succeed  in  the  consulate,  and  who  was,  by  this  alliance,  se- 
cured in  the  interest  of  Cesar.  **  Provinces,  armies,  and 
kingdoms,"  said  Cato  on  this  occasion,  •'  are  made  the  dow- 
ries of  women,  and  the  empire  itself  an  appendage  of  female 
prostitution." 

By  the  influence  of  Pompey  and  Cesar,  Gabinius  and  Piso 
were  elected  consuls;  and,  by  their  connivance,  Clodius 
became  tribune  of  the  people.*  The  ascendant  they  hsui 
gained,  however,  was  extremely  disagreeable  to  many  of 
the  other  officers  of  state,  and  even  to  some  of  the  tribunes. 
L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  and  C.  Memmius  Gemellus  joined 
in  an  accusation  against  Cesar,  late  consul,  for  proceedings 
in  office  contrary  to  law  and  religion.  Cesar  pleaded  his 
privilege  as  a  person  destined  for  public  service ;  and  ac- 
cordingly, without  staying  to  answer  this  charge,  withdrew 
from  the  city,  and  continued  to  make  his  levies,  and  to  as- 
semble his  army  in  the  suburbs  of  Rome. 

In  this  posture  of  affairs,  one  of  the  questors,  who  had 
served  under  Cesar  in  his  consulship,  was  convicted  of  some 
misdemeanour ;  and  the  opposite  party,  as  if  they  had  of  a 
sudden  broken  the  chains  in  which  they  were  held,  com- 
menced suits  against  all  the  tools  that  had  been  employed 
by  him  in  his  late  violent  measures.  Gabinius  had  been 
charged  with  bribery  by  Caius  Cato,  then  a  young  man. 
But  the  pretor,  whose  lot  it  was  to  exercise  the  jurisdic- 
tion in  such  cases,  being  under  the  influence  of  Pompey, 
evaded  the  question.  Caius  Cato  complained  to  the  people, 
and,  having  said  that  Pompey  usurped  a  dictatorial  power, 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life. 

Vatinius  was  accused  before  the  pretor  Memmius,  who 
willingly  received  the  accusation;  but  all  proceedings 
were  suddenly  stopped  by  the  interposition  of  Clodius  in 
the  capacity  of  tribune ;  and  the  attention  of  the  people  and 
of  the  senate  soon  came  to  be  more  entirely  occupied  with 
the  designs  of  this  factious  adventurer. 

The  ruin  of  Cicero  appears  to  have  been  the  principal 
object  which  Clodius  proposed  to  himself  in  entering  on  the 
office  of  tribune;  and  this,  though  affecting  to  be  of  the 
popular  party,  he  pursued  chiefly  from  motives  of  personal 
animosity  and  resentment.  Ciot>ro  h:nl  glvoa.  evidence 

»  U.  0.  *)5. 


294  HISTOKX  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

aganist  him  on  his  trial,  and  afterwards  in  the  senate  made 
liim  the  butt  of  his  invective.  He  is  generally  represented 
by  Cicero  as  effeminate  and  profligate,  void  of  discretion  or 
prudence.  On  the  present  occasion,  however,  he  seems  to 
have  managed  with  considerable  steadiness  and  address. 
He  acted  evidently  in  concert  with  Cesar,  Pompey,  and 
Crassus ;  but  probably  had  not  from  them  any  particular 
direction  in  what  manner  he  was  to  proceed. 

Ever  since  the  summary  proceedings  Avhich  were  em- 
ployed against  the  accomplices  of  Catiline,  the  danger  of 
this  precedent  was  a  favourite  topic  with  the  popular  fac- 
tion. Clodius  professed  that  the  object  of  his  tribunate 
was  to  provide  a  guard  against  this  danger.  He  began 
with  paying  his  court  to  different  parties  and  different 
orders  of  men  in  the  republic,  by  proposing  acts  favourable 
to  each ;  and  he  stated  his  motion  for  the  better  securing  of 
the  people  against  arbitrary  executions,  which  he  meant  in 
the  end  to  apply  to  Cicero,  as  but  one  of  many  regulations 
intended  by  him  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  and  which  he 
joined  with  some  acts  of  gratification  to  private  persons. 

Joined  to  many  arts  practised  to  reconcile  different  par- 
ties to  the  measures  he  affected  to  take  for  the  security  of 
the  people's  liberties,  Clodius  promulgated  his  law  of  pro- 
vision against  arbitrary  executions,  and  gave  it  a  retrospect 
which  was  undoubtedly  meant  to  comprehend  the  summary 
proceedings .  which  had  been  held  against  Cethegus  and 
Lentulus  in  the  consulate  of  Cicero.  While  the  subject 
was  in  dependence,  he  foresaw  an  opposition  and  possibly 
a  disappointment  in  his  design  against  Qicero,  if  Cato  con- 
tinued at  Rome,  and  devised  a  commission  to  employ  him 
in  foreign  service.  Ptolemy,  king  of  Cyprus,  had  put  a  per- 
sonal affront  on  Clodius,  by  refusing  to  pay  his  ransom 
when  taken  by  pirates  on  the  coast  of  Asia  near  to  that 
island.  He  now  took  an  opportunity  to  be  revenged  on 
him,  by  procuring  an  act  to  forfeit  his  kingdom  and  his 
treasure ;  and  by  making  Cato  the  instrument  of  his 
revenge,  he  managed  to  free  himself  at  the  same  time  from 
the  interruption  which  this  citizen  was  likely  to  give  to 
his  projects  at  Rome,  by  getting  him  appointed  as  commis- 
sioner to  reduce  Cyprus  into  the  form  of  a  province. 

The  storm  was  now  prepared  to  fall  upon  the  magistrate 
who  had  presided  in  the  suppression  of  Catiline's  party,  and 
no  man  had  any  doubt  of  its  direction.  Cato,  before  he  left 
Rome,  seeing  Cesar  in  possession  of  the  gates  with  an 
army,  and  ready,  in  the  event  of  any  tumult,  under  pre- 
tence of  quieting  disorders,  to  enter  the  city  by  force,  and 
to  seize  on  the  government  and  apprehending,  that  the 


Cn.  V.]  ROMAN- KKPUBLIC.  295 

cause  in  dependence,  however  jnsr,  was  altogether  desper- 
ate, earnestly  exhorted  Cicero,  rather  to  yield  ;iml  to  with 
draw  from  the  city,  than  to  bring  matters  to  extremities  in 
the  present  state  of  the  republic. 

Cicero,  however,  was  for  some  time  undecided.  Having 
secured  the  support  of  L.  Ninius  Quadratus,  one  of  the  tri- 
bunes, he  proposed  to  obstruct  the  proceedings  of  his  ene- 
my, and  to  give  a  negative  to  all  his  motions.  Afterwards, 
upon  assurances  from  Clodius,  that  the  purpose  of  the  net 
was  altogether  general,  and  had  no  special  relation  to  him- 
self, he  was  prevailed  on  not  to  divide  the  college  of  tri- 
bunes, or  to  engage  his  friends  in  the  invidious  task  of 
giving  a  negative  to  a  law,  that  was  intended  merely  to 
guard  the  people  against  arbitrary  proceedings. 

Clodius,  having  obtained  this  advantage,  no  longer  made 
any  secret  of  his  design  against  Cicero,  and  boasted  of  the 
concurrence  of  Cesar  and  Pompey.  In  this  neither  of  these 
professed  friends  of  Cicero  denied  the  imputation ;  but 
excused  themselves  in  private  by  pleading,  that  while  their 
own  acts  of  the  preceding  year  were  still  questioned  by  the 
pretor,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  keep  terms  with  so 
violent  a  tribune  ;  but  Pompey,  together  with  this  apology 
for  his  present  conduct,  gave  Cicero  the  strongest  assuran- 
ces of  future  protection.  "This  tribune,"  he  said,  "sh'all 
kill  me  before  he  injure  you."  It  is  not  credible  that  Pom- 
|H;y  then  meant  to  betray  him ;  it  was  sufficiently  base,  that, 
in  the  sequel,  he  did  not  keep  his  word. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  consul  Gabinius,  though  under  the 
absolute  direction  of  Pompey,  promoted  the  attack  against 
Cicero,  and  checked  every  attempt  that  was  made  in  his 
favour.  When  the  equestrian  order,  together  with  num- 
bers of  the  most  respectable  citizens  from  every  quarter  of 
Italy,  crowded  in  mourning  to  Rome,  and  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  senate  in  his  behalf;  and  when  the  mem- 
bers proposed  to  take  mourning,  and  to  intercede  with  the 
people,  Gabinius  suddenly  left  the  chair,  broke  up  the  meet- 
in  ir,  went  directly  from  thence  to  the  assembly  of  the  peo- 
ple, where  he  threw  out  injurious  insinuations  against  the 
i-enatp,  and  the  equestrian  order 

In  this  extremity  Cicero  attempted  to  see  Pompey  i* 
person  at  his  country-house  ;  but  while  the  suppliant  was 
entering  at  one  door,  this  treacherous  friend  withdrew  at 
another.*  No  longer  doubting  that  he  was  betrayed,  by  a 
person  on  whom  he  had  so  fully  relied,  he  began  to  be  agi- 
hiti'd  by  a  variety  of  counsels  and  projects.  He  was  invited 
by  Cesar  to  place  himself  in  the  station  of  lieutenant  in  his 
urovinco  of  Gaul ;  and,  in  that  public  character  abroad,  to 


296  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

take  refuge  from  the  storm  that  was  gathering  against  him 
in  Italy.  But  this,  from  a  person  who  had  so  much  contri- 
buted to  raise  the  storm,  was  supposed  to  proceed  from  a 
design  to  insult  or  betray  him. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs,  when  Clodius  assembled  the 
people  to  pass  the  act  he  had  framed  against  arbitrary  exe- 
cutions. He  had  summoned  them  to  meet  in  the  suburbs, 
that  Cesar,  who  on  account  of  his  military  command  wag 
then  excluded  from  the  city,  might  be  present.  This  art- 
ful politician  being  called  upon  among  the  first  to  deliver 
his  opinion ;  with  an  appearance  of  moderation,  and  unwil- 
lingness to  bear  hard  on  any  person  to  whom  the  law  might 
apply,  referred  the  people  to  his  former  declarations ;  said, 
that  every  one  knew  his  mind  on  the  subject  of  arbitrary 
executions  ;  that  he  approved  the  act  which  was  now  pro- 
posed, as  far  as  it  provided  against  such  offences  for  the 
future  ;  but  could  not  approve  of  its  having  a  retrospect  to 
any  transaction  already  passed. 

While  Cesar  thus,  in  delivering  his  own  opinion,  affected 
to  go  no  farther  than  consistency  and  a  regard  to  I  .is  former 
conduct  seemed  to  require,  he  permitted  or  directed  his 
party  to  go  every  length  with  Clodius,  and  meant  either  to 
ruin  Cicero,  or  force  him  to  accept  of  protection  on  the 
terms  that  should  be  prescribed  to  him. 

When  the  general  law  had  passed,  there  was  yet  no  men- 
tion of  Cicero  ;  and  his  enemies  might  have  still  found  it  a 
difficult  matter  to  carry  the  application  to  him  ;  but  he  him- 
self, in  the  anguish  of  his  mind,  anticipated  the  accusation, 
and  not  only  went  forth  in  mourning  to  the  streets,  implor- 
ing mercy  of  every  citizen  with  an  aspect  of  dejection,  but 
abandoned  the  city,  and  intended  to  have  made  his  retreat 
into  Sicily,  where  the  memory  of  his  administration  in  the 
capacity  of  questor,  was  likely  to  procure  him  a  favour- 
able reception.  But  Clodius,  immediately  upon  his  depar- 
ture, having  carried  a  special  attainder,  by  which,  in  the 
language  of  such  acts,  he  was  interdicted  the  use  of  fire 
and  water;  and  by  which  every  person  within  five  hun- 
dred miles  of  Italy  was  forbid,  under  severe  penalties,  to 
harbour  him ;  Virgilius,  the  pretor  of  Sicily,  though  his 
friend,  declined  to  receive  him.  He  turned  from  thence  to 
Brundusium,  passed  into  Macedonia,  and  settled  in  Cyzi- 
cum. 

We  have  better  means  of  knowing  the  frailties  of  Cicero, 
than  perhaps  is  safe  for  the  reputation  of  any  one  labour- 
ing under  the  ordinary  defects  of  human  nature.  He  wiw 
open  and  undisguised  to  his  friends,  and  has  left  an  exten* 
tire  correspondence  behind  him. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  297 

From  the  whole  of  this  correspondence  of  Cicero  in  his 
exile,  it  appears  that  the  consciousness  of  his  integrity,  even 
lis  vanity  forsook  him;  and  his  fine  genius,  no  longer 
employed  in  the  forum  or  in  the  senate,  or  busied  in  the 
literary  studies  which  amused  him  afterwards  in  a  more 
calamitous  time  of  the  republic,  now,  by  exaggerating  the 
distress  of  his  fortunes,  preyed  upon  himself.  It  appeared 
from  this,  and  many  other  scenes  of  his  life,  that  although 
lie  loved  virtuous  actions,  yet  his  virtue  was  accompanied 
\\ithso  insatiable  a  thirst  of  the  praise  to  which  it  entitled 
him,  that  his  mind  was  unable  to  sustain  itself  without  this 
foreign  assistance  ;  and  when  the  praise  which  was  due  to 
his  consulate  was  changed  into  obloquy  and  scorn,  he  seems 
to  have  lost  the  sense  of  good  or  of  evil  in  his  own  conduct 
or  character ;  and  at  Thessalonica,  where  he  fixed  the  scene 
of  his  exile,  sank  or  rose  in  his  own  esteem,  as  he  seemed 
to  be  valued  or  neglected  at  Rome. 


CHAP.  VI. 

Cesar  takes  possession  of  his  Province— Migration  of  the  Helvetii— Their 
Defeat— War  with  Ariovistu*  -  Return  of  Cesar  for  the  Winter  into 
Italy  — Motion  to  recall  Cicero  from  exile— Disorders  that  followed 
upon  it—  Opposition  made  to  Ctodius  by  the  tribune  T,  Annius  MUo 
— Augmentation  of  the  Army  in  Gaul— Second  Campaign  of  Cesar 
—  Operations  on  the  Aisne-On  the  Meuse  and  Sambre— Battle  with 
the  Nervii— Successful  Attempt  for  the  Restoration  of  Cicero -Con- 
troversy relating  to  his  House —Repeated  Riots  of  Clodius  — Trial  of 
MUo. 

WHILE  the  transaction  which  terminated  in  the  exile  of 
Cicero  was  still  in  dependence,  Cesar,  although,  by  assum- 
ing the  military  character,  he  had  disqualified  himself  to 
take  any  part  in  civil  affairs,  still  remained  in  the  suburbs 
of  Rome  to  observe  the  issue  of  that  business,  and  to  direct 
the  conduct  of  his  party 

The  provinces  of  which  Cesar  had  obtained  the  command, 
comprehended,  as  has  been  observed,  under  the  denomina- 
tion of  the  two  Gauls,  considerable  territories  on  both  sides 
of  the  Alps.  The  Cisalpine  Gaul,  which  was  joined  to  Italy, 
extended  to  Lucca,  not  far  from  Pisa  on  one  side  of  the 
Apennines,  and  to  the  Rubicon,  not  far  from  Ariminum  on 
the  other.  Beyond  the  Alps,  the  whole  territory  from  the 
Mediterranean  to  the"  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Gaul.  A  part  of  this  tract,  which  was  bounded 
by  the  Rhone,  the  mountains  of  Auvergne,  the  Garonne, 


^98  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

and  the  Pyrenees  was  already  a  Roman  province,  includ- 
ing-, together  with  Languedoc  and  Dauphine,  what,  from 
its  early  subjection  to  the  Romans,  is  still  named  Provence 

The  remainder  of  the  country  was  divided  into  three 
principal  parts,  occupied  hy  the  Aquitani,  the  Celtae,  and 
the  Belgae,  nations  differing  in  language,  establishments, 
and  customs.  The  first  division  extended  from  the  Pyre- 
nees to  the  Garonne  ;  the  second  from  the  Garonne  to  the 
Seine ;  and  the  third  from  thence  to  the  Meuse  and  the 
Scheldt, 

In  each  of  these  tracts  there  was  a  multiplicity  of  separ- 
ate cantons  and  independent  communities,  of  which  Cesar 
had  occasion  to  enumerate  no  less  than  four  hundred.  The 
people,  in  general,  were  held  in  a  state  of  dependence  by 
two  separate  orders  of  men.  One  order  was  ecclesiastical, 
composed  of  the  Druids,  who,  by  their  profession,  had  the 
keeping  of  such  mysteries,  and  the  performance  of  such 
rites  as  were  then  in  use ;  and  the  other  order  was  mili- 
tary, and  consisted  of  persons  whose  principal  distinction 
arose  from  the  number  of  their  armed  adherents. 

The  country,  we  learn,  in  general,  was  interspersed  with 
what  are  called  towns,  and  what  were,  in  reality,  safe 
retreats,  or  places  of  strength.  It  abounded  in  corn  and 
cattle,  the  resources  of  a  numerous  people  ;  armies  were 
collected,  and  political  assemblies  were  statedly,  or  occasion- 
ally called  :  but  how  the  people  were  accommodated,  or  in 
what  degree  they  were  supplied  with  the  ordinary  produc- 
tions of  mechanic,  or  commercial  arts,  is  nowhere  described. 

In  these  particulars,  however,  as  they  were  probably  less 
skilful  than  the  Italians,  so  they  surpassed  the  Germans,  to 
whom  they  yielded  in  the  reputation  of  valour ;  and  they 
were  now  in  reality  on  the  eve  of  becoming  a  prey  to  the 
rapacity  and  ferocity  of  the  one,  or  to  the  ambition,  refined 
policy,  and  superior  arts  of  the  other. 

Among  parties,  who  were  already  so  numerous,  and 
likely  to  be  divided  indefinitely  by  family  or  personal  jeal- 
ousies, Cesar  was  about  to  find  the  occasions,  which  he 
undoubtedly  sought  for,  of  raising  his  reputation  in  war. 
of  enriching  himself  and  his  dependents,  and  of  forming  an 
army  inured  to  service,  and  attached  to  himself.  While  he 
was  yet  in  Italy,  he  was  called  to  his  province  by  a  won- 
derful project  formed  by  the  Helvetii,  natives  of  the  tract 
which  extends  from  the  Jura  to  the  Alps,  to  quit  their 
own  country  in  order  to  exchange  it  for  a  better  settle- 
ment, on  the  lower  and  more  fertile  plains  of  Gaul.  They 
mustered  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thou- 
tand  souls,  of  whom  ninety-two  thousand  were  warriors, 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  299 

or  men  fit  to  bear  arms ;  and  began  their  operation  by  send- 
ing to  Cesar  a  pacific  message,  desiring,  tha4  they  might  be 
allowed  to  pass  the  Rhone,  and  giving  assurances  that  they 
would  abstain  from  every  sort  of  hostility  on  their  march 
through  the  Roman  province.  Cesar,  in  order  to  gain  time, 
affected  to  take  their  request  into  consideration,  and  pro- 
mised to  give  them  an  answer  without  long  delay. 

After  preparing  for  his  defence,  he,  on  the  return  of  the 
Helvetian  deputies,  gave  them  for  answer,  That  the  Ro- 
mans never  allowed  strangers  to  pass  through  their  coun- 
try ;  and  that  if  any  attempt  were  made  on  his  province, 
he  should  repel  it  by  force.  Upon  receiving  this  answer, 
the  Helvetians,  though  too  late,  endeavoured  in  vain  to 
effect  the  passage  of  the  Rhone,  changed  their  course,  and 
passed  over  the  Jura  into  Gaul. 

Cesar,  probably  not  more  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his 
province,  than  desirous  to  render  it  a  scene  of  action, 
determined  to  observe  the  migrations  of  this  enemy,  and  to 
seize  the  occasion  they  furnished  him  of  forming  his  troops 
to  service.  For  this  purpose  he  himself,  in  person,  repassed 
the  Alps,  ordered  additional  levies,  and  with  the  forces  as- 
sembled near  Aquileia,  returned  to  his  northern  province. 
He  had  traversed  the  country  of  the  Allobroges,  and  passed 
the  Rhone  above  its  confluence  with  the  Saone,  when  he 
had  intelligence  that  the  Helvetii,  having  cleared  the  passes 
of  Jura,  and  marched  through  the  country  of  the  Sequani, 
were  arrived  on  the  Saone  ;  and  that  they  threatened  the 
nations  inhabiting  beyond  this  river  with  fire  and  sword. 

Upon  application  made  to  him  for  protection  from  the 
natives  inhabiting  between  the  Saone  and  the  Loire,  this 
willing  auxiliary  continued  his  march  ;  and  being  informed, 
that  of  the  Helvetii,  who  had  moved  in  four  divisions  (this 
being  the  number  of  their  cantons,)  the  three  first  had 
already  passed  the  Saone  ;  and  that  the  fourth  division 
being  to  follow,  yet  remained  on  the  nearer  bank  of  the 
river,  he  marched  in  the  night  with  three  legions,  surprised 
this  rear-division ;  and,  having  put  many  of  them  to  the 
sword,  forced  the  remainder  to  take  refuge  in  the  neigh- 
bouring woods. 

As  soon  as  the  main  body  of  Cesar's  army  arrived  on  the 
Saone,  he  constructed  a  bridge,  and  passed  that  river  in  his 
way  to  the  enemy.  The  Helvetians,  sensible  of  their  loss 
in  the  fate  action,  and  alarmed  at  the  rapidity  of  his  mo- 
tions, he  having  executed  in  one  day  the  passage  of  a  river 
which  had  detained  them  above  ninety  days,  sent  a  de- 
putation to  treat  with  the  Roman  proconsul,  and  to  obtain, 
if  possible,  his  permission  to  execute  their  project  of  a 


300  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  HI. 

new  settlement  en  amicable  terms.  They  offered,  in  case 
they  were  allowed  to  sit  down  in  quiet,  to  leave  the 
choice  of  the  place  to  himself;  bidding-  him  remember,  at 
the  same  time,  that  the  arms  of  the  lleivvtii  had,  on  former 
occasions,  bet'n  felt  by  the  Romans. 

To  this  message,  Cesar  replied,  "  That  he  could  recollect 
to  have  heard  of  insults  which  had  been  offered  to  the 
Romans  by  their  nation,  and  to  which  they  now  probably 
alluded  :  that  he  likewise  had  more  recent  provocations 
which  he  knew  how  to  resent:  nevertheless,  if  they  meant 
to  comply  with  his  demand,  to  repair  the  injuries  they  had 
done  to  the  Allobroges*  nnd  to  the  Edui,t  and  to  give  hos- 
tages for  their  future  behaviour,  that  he  was  willing  to 
grant  them  peace."  Upon  this  reply  the  Helvetian  depu- 
ties withdrew,  saying,  That  it  was  the  practice  of  their 
countrymen  to  receive,  not  to  give  hostages;  and  both 
armies  moved  on  the  following  day :  the  Helvetians,  in 
search  of  some  quarter  where  they  might  settle  without 
interruption ;  and  Cesar,  to  observe  their  motions. 

The  Roman  general  had  followed  them  for  sixteen  days 
without  finding  a  favourable  opportunity  of  engaging, 
when  being  obliged  to  alter  his  route  in  order  to  receive  a 
supply  of  provisions,  the  enemy  believed  that  he  was  re- 
treating, and  began  to  pursue  in  their  turn.  Advancing 
to  attack  him,  after  an  obstinate  engagement  which  lasted 
from  one  in  the  afternoon  till  night,  they  were  defeated 
with  the  slaughter  of  about  two  hundred  thousand  of  their 
people ;  and  the  remainder,  amounting  to  no  more  than  one 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  souls,  reduced  to  despair  by 
the  sense  of  their  losses,  and  the  want  of  subsistence,  sur- 
rendered at  discretion. 

At  the  end  of  this  first  operation  of  Cesar,  while  great 
part  of  the  summer  yet  remained,  the  nations  who  inha- 
bited the  banks  of  the  Saone  and  the  Loire,  sent  deputies 
to  congratulate  the  Roman  general  on  his  late  victory,  and 
to  solicit  relief  from  the  common  oppression  they  under- 
went from  the  tyranny  of  Ariovistus,  a  German  chief,  who, 
when  the  Gauls  were  at  war  among  themselves,  had  been 
invited  as  an  auxiliary  to  one  of  the  parties,  and  had  ob- 
tained the  victory  for  his  allies :  but  took  for  the  reward  of 
his  services  possession  of  one  third  of  their  territory,  which 
lie  bestowed  on  his  own  people,  and  assumed  for  himself 
the  sovereignty  of  the  whole. 

These  unfortunate  nations  found  Cesar  sufficiently  wil- 

*  Inhabitants  of  what  is  now  the  territory  of  Geneva,  and  part  a 
f»voy. 
+  Occupying  the  country  between  the  Saon«  and  the  Loire 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  30J 

ling  to  embrace  every  opportunity  of  rendering  his  pro- 
vince a  theatre  of  fiction  to  his  army,  and  of  renown  to 
himself.  He  sent  without  delay  a  message  to  Ariovistus, 
desiring  to  have  a  conference  with  him  on  affairs  that  con- 
cerned the  general  interests  of  Gaul ;  and  received  for 
answer,  "  That  if  the  Roman  general  meant  to  have  an  in- 
terview with  him,  his  place  of  residence  was  known.  On 
a  renewal  of  his  message,  he  was  set  at  defiance,  where- 
upon he  advanced  upon  the  Germans  before  they  could 
think  him  in  condition  to  act  against  them.  Cesar  made 
a  circuit  of  forty  miles,  to  avoid  some  difficulties  which  lay 
on  the  direct  road  ;  and  after  a  march  of  seven  days,  he 
arrived  within  twenty-four  miles  of  the  German  quarters. 

Upon  this  unexpected  arrival,  Ariovistus,  in  his  turn, 
thought  proper  to  desire  a  conference  with  Cesar.  He  pro 
posed  that  they  should  meet  on  horseback,  and  be  attended 
only  by  cavalry.  In  this  part  of  his  army,  which  was  com- 
posed chiefly  of  Gaulish  horse,  Cesar  was  weak.  But,  not 
to  decline  the  proposal  that  was  made  to  him,  he  mounted 
a  favourite  legion  on  the  horses  of  the  Gauls,  and  with  this 
escort  came  to  the  place  appointed  for  the  conference. 

It  was  an  eminence  in  the  midst  of  a  spacious  plain, 
about  half-way  between  the  two  armies.  The  leaders, 
each  attended  by  ten  of  his  officers,  met  at  the  top  of  the 
hill.  Their  escorts  drew  up  at  the  distance  of  two  hum- 
dred  yards  on  each  side. 

After  a  short  interview,  while  Cesar  yet  spoke,  the  Ger- 
man horse  had  advanced,  and  even  began  to  throw  darts, 
which  made  it  expedient  for  him  to  break  up  the  confer- 
ence. He  accordingly  withdrew,  giving  strict  orders  to  his 
people  not  to  return  the  insults  of  the  enemy. 

In  a  few  days  after  this  conference,  the  German  chieftain 
proposed  another  personal  interview,  or,  if  that  were  de- 
clined, desired  that  some  person  of  confidence  should  be 
sent  with  whom  he  might  treat.  Being  gratified  in  the 
second  part  of  this  alternative,  but  intending  no  more  by 
this  request  than  a  mere  feint  to  lull  the  enemy  into  some 
degree  of  security,  he  pretended  to  take  offence  at  the  qua- 
lity of  the  persons  who  were  sent  to  him,  ordered  them 
into  custody,  and  on  the  same  day  put  his  army  in  motion 
upon  a  real  design,  which  showed  that,  barbarian  as  he  was, 
he  understood  the  plan,  as  well  as  the  execution,  of  mili- 
tary operations.  Observing  that  the  Romans  derived  their 
subsistence  from  the  country  behind  them,  he  made  a 
movement,  by  which  he  passed  their  camp,  took  a  strong 
post  about  eleven  miles  in  their  rear,  and  by  this  mean* 
Intercepted  their  ordinary  supply  of  provisions. 
!',  H 


302  HISTORY  OF  THE  iB.  Ill 

Cesar  for  many  days  successively  endeavored,  by  form- 
ing on  the  plain  between  the  two  armies,  to  provoke  the 
enemy  to  a  battle;  but  having  failed  in  this  purpose,  he 
attacked  them  in  their  camp,  and  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter.  Ariovistus  himself,  with  the  remains  of  hi? 
followers,  fled  to  the  Rhine,  about  fifty  miles  from  the  field 
of  battle,  passed  that  river  in  a  small  canoe ;  numbers  of  his 
people  perished  in  attempting  to  follow  him,  and  the  greatei 
part  of  those  who  remained  were  overtaken,  and  put  tc 
the  sword  by  Cesar's  cavalry. 

In  this  manner  Cesar  concluded  his  first  campaign  in 
Gaul.  And  laid  the  foundation  of  his  future  conquests  in 
that  country,  by  stating  himself  as  the  protector  of  its  native 
inhabitants  against  the  Helvetii  and  the  Germans,  two 
powerful  invaders  who  were  likely  to  subdue  it.  He  placed 
his  army  for  the  winter  among  the  nations  whom  he  had 
thus  taken  under  his  protection,  and  set  out  for  Italy,  under 
pretence  of  attending  to  the  affairs  of  his  province  on  that 
side  of  the  Alps ;  but  more  probably  to  be  near  to  Rome, 
where  he  had  many  political  interests  at  stake,  friends  to 
support,  and  enemies  to  oppose,  in  their  canvass  for  the 
offices  of  state. 

At  the  election  of  consuls  for  this  year,  P.  Cornelius 
Lentulus  Spinther  was  joined  with  Q.  Cecilius  Metellus 
Nepos,  of  whom  the  latter  had,  in  the  capacity  of  tribune, 
distinguished  himself  as  an  instrument  of  the  most  danger- 
ous factions.  Lentulus  had  been  edile  in  the  consulate  of 
Cicero,  and  had  taken  a  vigorous  part  in  those  very 
measures  for  which  Cicero  was  now  suffering  in  exile. 
He  was  likely  to  favour  the  restoration  of  that  injured 
citizen,  and  upon  this  account  was  now  the  more  acceptable 
to  Pompey,  who,  having  an  open  rupture  with  Clodius, 
was  disposed  to  mortify  him  by  espousing  the  cause  of  his 
enemies. 

Encouraged  by  division  among  their  enemies,  the  majori- 
ty of  the  senate,  who  justly  considered  the  cause  of  Cicero 
as  their  own,  had  ventured,  on  the  twenty -ninth  of  October, 
while  Clodius  was  yet  in  office,  to  move  for  his  recall,  but 
failed  to  obtain  their  object.  However,  upon  the  election 
of  the  new  consuls  and  tribunes  for  the  following  year, 
better  hopes  of  success  were  entertained  by  the  friends  of 
Cicero.  Lentulus  declared  that  the  restoration  of  this  exile 
should  be  the  first  object  of  his  administration  ;  and  signi- 
fied his  intention  to  concur  with  the  consul.  Milo,  Sextius, 
and  six  more  of  the  tribunes,  with  all  the  pretors  except 
Appius  Claudius  the  brother  of  Publius,  declared  their  in 
tention  to  take  an  active  part  in  forwarding  this  measure. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  303 

Encouraged  by  these  appearances,  Cicero  left  his  retreat 
at  Thes^alonica,  .and  arrived  at  Dyrrachitim,  to  be  at  hand 
to  consult  with  his  friends  on  the  steps  that  were  to  be  pre- 
viously taken.  Meantime  the  consuls- elect  had  their 
provinces  assigned.  Lentulus  was  destined  to  command  in 
Cilicia  and  Cyprus,  and  Metellus  in  the  farther  province  ol 
'Spain.  The  consul  Lentulus,  on  the  first  of  January,  th* 
day  of  his  entering  on  office,  moved  the  senate  to  resolve 
that  Cicero  should  be  immediately  recalled  from  banish- 
ment ;  that  all  persons  opposing  his  return  should  be  de- 
clared enemies  to  their  country;  and  that  if  the  people 
should  be  disturbed  by  violence  in  passing  this  decree,  it 
should,  nevertheless,  be  lawful  for  the  exile  to  avail  himself 
of  it.* 

This  motion  was  received  in  the  senate  with  general 
applause,  and  it  was  resolved  to  propose  a  law  to  the  people 
for  Cicero's  restoration ;  a  day  being  fixed  for  this  purpose. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  that  day  Fabricius,  one  of  the  tri- 
bunes in  the  interest  of  the  exile,  endeavoured  to  occupy 
the  place  of  assembly  with  an  armed  force,  but  found  that 
Clodius,  with  a  numerous  troop  of  gladiators,  was  there 
before  him.  A  conflict  ensued :  the  party  of  the  senate 
were  driven  from  the  forum ;  Clodius,  at  the  head  of  his 
gladiators,  with  swords  already  stained  in  blood,  pursued 
his  victory  through  the  streets.  "  The  streets,  the  common 
eexvers,  the  river,"  says  Cicero,  "  were  filled  with  dead 
bodies,  and  all  the  pavements  were  stained  with  blood." 
No  such  scene  had  been  acted  since  the  times  of  Octavius 
and  China,  when  armies  fought  in  the  city  for  the  dominion 
of  the  empire. 

After  so  strange  a  disorder,  parties  for  some  months, 
mutually  afraid  of  each  other,  abstained  from  violence. 
The  tribune  Milo  commenced  a  prosecution  against  Clodius 
for  his  crimes ;  but  it  was  for  some  time  eluded  by  the 
authority  of  Appius  Claudius,  brother  of  the  accused,  who 
ivas  now  in  the  office  of  pretor ;  and  the  courts,  when  actu- 
jlly  called,  were  repeatedly  dispersed  by  the  armed  party 
of  gladiators,  with  which  Publius  Clodius  himself  infested 
every  public  place.  It  was  vain  to  oppose  him  without 
being  prepared  to  employ  a  similar  force,  and  Milo  accor- 
dingly had  recourse  to  this  method.  He  purchased  a  troop 
of  gladiators,  and  of  bestiarii,  or  baiters  of  wild  beasts,  and 
the  remainder  of  those  who  had  been  employed  by  the  edilet 
Pomponius  and  Cosconius,  and  who  were  now  in  the  mar* 
ket  for  sale. 

*  u.  c.  eoe. 


304  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

So  provided,  Milo  ventured  to  encounter  with  Clodius. 
Their  parties  frequently  engaged  in  the  streets,  and  the 
populace,  fond  of  such  shows,  enjoyed  the  spectacle  which 
was  presented  to  them  in  every  corner  of  the  city. 

While  the  disorders  which  thus  arose  from  the  disputes 
relating  to  Cicero's  restoration  were  daily  augmenting,  hq 
himself  fell  from  the  height  of  his  hopes  to  his  former  pitch 
of  dejection  and  sorrow.  The  attempt  which  had  been 
made  in  his  favour  might  have  succeeded,  if  Pompey  had 
been  fully  prepared  to  concur  in  it.  But  all  the  measures 
of  the  triumvirate  being  concerted  at  the  quarters  of  Cesar, 
Pompey  was  obliged,  after  declaring  his  own  inclinations 
on  the  subject,  to  consult  his  associate,  and  found  him  by 
no  means  inclined  to  restore  a  citizen  who  was  likely  to  be 
of  so  much  consequence,  and  who  was  to  owe  the  favour 
of  his  restoration  to  any  other  than  himself.  The  tribune 
Sextius,  before  the  late  dissolution,  had  made  a  journey 
into  Gaul,  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Cesar  to  this  measure, 
but  could  not  prevail. 

In  this  year,  which  was  the  second  of  Cesar's  command, 
two  more  additional  legions  were  by  his  orders  levied  in 
Italy;  and  under  pretence  of  an  approaching  war  with  the 
Belgae,  a  nation  consisting  of  many  cantons  in  the  northern 
extremities  of  Gaul,  this  reinforcement  was  made  to  pass 
the  Alps  to  the  northward  in  the  spring.  As  soon  as  the 
forage  was  up,  he  himself  followed  in  person,  took  the 
field,  and,  in  the  usual  spirit  of  his  conduct,  endeavoured 
by  the  rapidity  of  his  motions,  to  frustrate  or  to  prevent 
the  designs  of  his  enemies. 

His  force  now  consisted  of  eight  Roman  legions,  besides 
numerous  bodies  of  horse  and  foot  from  different  cantons 
in  Gaul,  archers  from  Crete  and  Numidia,  and  slingers  from 
the  Balearian  islands ;  so  that  it  is  likely  the  whole  may 
have  amounted  to  about  sixty  thousand  men.  Cesar  having 
now  taken  numbers  of  their  people  into  his  army  as  auxil- 
iaries or  as  hostages,  took  his  route  to  the  northward,  to 
carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country.  After  a  march 
rf  fifteen  days,  he  arrived  in  the  canton  of  the  Remi,* 
where  he  found  a  people,  though  of  Belgic  extraction,  dis- 
posed to  receive  him  as  a  friend,  and  to  place  themselves 
under  his  protection. 

From  this  people  he  had  a  confirmation  of  his  former 
intelligence  relating  to  the  designs  of  the  Belgic  nations, 
and  an  account  of  the  forces  which  they  had  already  assem- 
bled. From  the  tract  of  country  that  is  watered  by  tht 

*  Now  Me  district  Rheiroi. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  305 

rivers,  which  are  now  called  the  Oise,  the  Scheldt,  and  the 
Meuse,  he  understood  that  no  less  than  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  men  were  assembling  against  him.  He  im- 
mediately fortified  a  station  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Aisno, 
while  the  Belgne  advanced  with  a  great  army,  laid  waste 
tlin  country,  and  came  within  two  miles  of  his  camp.  They 
had  a  front,  as  appeared  from  their  fires,  extending  about 
eight  miles. 

Cesar,  considering  the  numbers  and  reputation  of  this 
enemy,  thought  proper  to  proceed  with  caution.  He 
observed  them  from  his  intrenchments,  and  made  several 
trials  of  their  skill  in  partial  encounters ;  but  avoided 
battle  except  on  terms  which  they  would  not  accept.  The 
Belgae,  after  a  considerable  time  spent  in  skirmishing,  had 
exhausted  their  provisions,  and  found  themselves  under  the 
necessity  to  break  up  their  camp.  It  was  therefore  resolve*', 
in  their  general  council,  that  their  forces,  for  the  present, 
should  separate;  and  if  any  of  their  cantons  should  t*» 
afterwards  attacked  by  Cesar,  that  the  whole  should  assem- 
ble again  for  their  common  defence. 

With  this  resolution  they  decamped  in  the  night,  but  with 
so  much  noise  and  disorder  that  Cesar  suspected  a  feint,  or 
an  intention  to  draw  him  into  a  snare.  On  the  following 
day  he  moved  with  his  whole  army,  and,  that  the  enemy 
might  not  have  time  to  re-assemble  their  forces,  determined 
to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  their  country.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  his  march  he  followed  the  course  of  the  Aisne,  and 
in  his  way  reduced  the  Suessones  and  Bellovaci,  two  can- 
tons that  lay  on  the  right  and  the  left,  near  the  confluence 
of  this  river  with  the  Oise.  From  thence  he  detached  the 
young  Crassus,  with  a  considerable  force,  towards  the  sea 
coasts,  to  occupy  those  cantons  which  now  form  the 
provinces  of  Normandy  and  Brittany. 

Part  of  the  country  through  which  the  Meuse  and  the 
Sambre  passed,  now  forming  the  duchy  of  Hainault,  was 
then  occupied  by  the  Nervii,  one  of  the  fiercest  of  the 
IJ.-li,nc  nations,  who,  having  heard  with  indignation  of  the 
surrender  of  the  Bellovaci  and  Suessones,  their  neighbours, 
prepared  for  resistance.  Having  sent  such  of  their  people 
,H  by  their  sex  or  age,  were  unfit  to  carry  arms  into  a  pluco 
of  security,  assembled  all  their  warriors,  and  summoned 
their  allies  to  a  place  of  general  resort,  they  took  post  on 
the  Sambre. 

Cesar,  in  the  mean  time,  about  three  days  after  he  had 
marched  from  Samarobriva,  now  supposed  to  be  Aini<>ns, 
being  apprized  that  he  was  come  within  ten  miles  of  tho 
tfver,  on  the  banks  of  which  the  enemy  was  posted,  begun. 


306  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  111. 

as  usual,  to  intrench,  and  received  no  disturbance,  till  th« 
column  of  bag-gage  came  in  sight.  At  this  signal  the  enemy 
drove  in  the  cavalry  that  were  posted  to  cover  the  working 
parties,  and  attacking  him  suddenly,  brought  on  a  general 
engagement. 

The  event  of  this  tumultuary  action  was  various  in  dif- 
ferent places.  The  Nervii,  in  one  part  of  the  action,  forced 
the  imperfect  works  of  the  Roman  camp :  but  in  anothei 
part  of  it  were  themselves  forced  from  their  ground,  and 
driven  in  great  numbers  into  the  river.  Victory  declared 
for  Cesar  by  the  arrival  of  two  legions  of  the  rearguard, 
and  of  two  others,  that  were  sent  by  Labienus  to  support 
him. 

Of  four  hundred  chiefs  of  the  enemy  only  three  escaped  ; 
and  of  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  no  more  than  five 
hundred  left  the  field  of  battle. 

Another  enemy  yet  remained  in  the  field.  The  Attua- 
tici,  descendants  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  had  been  on 
their  march  to  join  the  Nervii,  when  they  heard  of  this  un- 
fortunate action ;  and  then  withdrew  to  their  own  country. 
Being  pursued  by  Cesar,  they  shut  themselves  up  in  their 
principal  fortress  ;  but  very  soon  surrendered,  and  were  in 
consequence  of  a  breach  of  faith  on  their  part,  to  the 
amount  of  fifty  thousand  persons,  sold  for  slaves. 

Thus  Cesar  having,  in  the  second  year  of  his  command, 
penetrated  to  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt,  and  being  master 
of  the  eastern  frontier  of  Gaul  as  far  as  the  Rhine,  and  of 
several  cantons  in  Normandy  and  Brittany,  placed  his 
army  for  the  winter  in  the  midst  of  these  conquests,  and 
himself  set  out  for  Italy  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome. 

Here  the  principal  point  which  he  left  in  contest  between 
the  parties,  relating  to  the  restoration  of  Cicero,  had  been 
for  some  time  determined.  Clodius  had  found  a  proper 
antagonist  in  Milo,  and,  as  often  as  he  himself,  or  any  of 
his  party,  appeared  in  the  assemblies  of  the  people,  or  in 
the  streets,  was  everywhere  attacked  with  his  own  wea- 
pons. His  own  credit,  however,  and  the  fear  which  citizens 
entertained  of  his  armed  banditti,  who  were  now  in  a  great 
measure  restrained  by  Milo,  had  abated  so  much,  that  the 
party  of  the  senate  determined  to  make  another  vigorous 
effort  for  the  restoration  of  their  exiled  member. 

This  business  was  accordingly  again  moved  in  the  senate ; 
and  about  the  beginning  of  June  a  decree  was  passed  in 
the  fullest  terms  for  the  restoration  of  Cicero.  Cicero  had 
intimation  of  the  act  being  passed,  set  out  for  Rome,  and 
continued  his  journey  through  multitudes  of  people,  nvho 
were  assembled  on  the  roads  to  testify  their  joy  upon  his 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  307 

return :  he  entered  the  city  on  the  fourth  of  September.  • 
Next  day  he  addressed  the  senate.  The  multitudes  that 
were  assembled  on  this  occasion,  their  impatience  to  see 
him,  their  acclamations  and  wonderful  unanimity,  raised 
him  once  more  to  his  former  pitch  of  glory,  and  appeared 
to  repay  all  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  public,  and 
to  compensate  all  the  sorrows  of  his  late  disgrace. 

During  these  transactions  Cesar  was  at  a  great  distance, 
in  the  northern  extremities  of  Gaul,  engaged  with  fierce 
and  numerous  enemies ;  and  Pompey,  not  the  less  jealous  of 
him  for  their  pretended  union,  and  sensible  of  the  advantage 
he  had  gained  in  a  military  command  of  so  long  a  duration 
at  the  gates  of  Rome,  now  wished  to  propose  for  himself 
gome  appointment  of  equal  importance. 

The  importation  of  corn  into  Italy  had  lately  miscarried, 
and  a  great  scarcity  and  dearth  had  followed.  The  populace 
being  riotous  upon  this  complaint,  had  in  the  theatre 
attacked  with  menaces  and  violence  numbers  of  the  wealthy 
citizens  who  were  present,  and  even  insulted  the  senate 
itself  in  the  capitol.  It  was  insinuated  by  the  adherents  of 
Pompey,  that  no  man  was  fit  to  relieve  the  people  besides 
himself ;  that  the  business  should  be  committed  to  him  alone ; 
and  Cicero  was  called  upon,  as  he  entered  the  senate,  to 
make  a  motion  to  this  purpose,  as  bound  to  procure  some 
relief  to  the  people,  in  return  to  their  late  cordiality  in  his 
cause. 

Cicero  had  probably  owed  his  recall  to  the  declarations 
of  Porapey  in  his  favour ;  and,  however  little  reason  he 
had  to  rely  on  his  friendship,  it  was  convenient  to  appear 
on  good  terms  with  him.  He  suffered  himself,  therefore, 
to  be  carried  by  the  stream  in  favour  of  this  fashionable 
leader.  As  if  the  necessity  of  the  case  had  suggested  the 
measure,  he  moved  the  senate  that  a  commission,  with  pro- 
consular power  over  all  the  provinces,  should  be  granted 
to  Pompey  to  superintend  the  supplies  of  corn  for  the  city. 
The  senate  passed  a  measure  to  that  effect,  and  sent  it  to 
the  assembly  of  the  people  for  their  assent. 

Here  C.  Messius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  proposed  to  enlarge 
the  commission,  and  to  comprehend  the  superintended y 
of  the  revenue,  with  an  allotment  of  fleets  and  armies 
suited  to  the  extent  of  this  unprecedented  trust.  Pompey, 
observing  that  this  additional  clause  was  ill  received,  de- 
nied his  having  any  share  in  proposing  it,  and  affected  to 
prefer  the  appointment  intended  for  him  in  terms  of  the  act 
which  had  been  proposed  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  consuls. 

The  extraordinary  commission  now  granted  to  Pompey, 
is  it  did  not  bestow  the  command  of  an  army,  fell  short  of 


308  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

•  the  consequences  which  Cesar  principally  dreaded  in  hi» 
rival ;  and  though  probably  the  cause  of  some  jealousy,  di  i 
not  produce  any  immediate  breach  between  them. 

The  great  change  in  the  affairs  of  Cicero  occasioned  con- 
siderable vexation  and  disappointment  to  Clodius.  That 
violent  individual  openly  attacked  Cicero,  as  he  was  passing 
in  the  streets,  attended  by  a  company  of  his  friends,  and 
attempted  to  take  his  life.  He  burned  the  house  of  Quintus 
Cicero  to  the  ground,  and  was  defeated  in  an  attempt  to  do 
(he  same  to  that  of  Milo.  It  appears  scarcely  credible,  that 
a  state  could  subsist  under  such  extreme  disorders  ;  yet  the 
author  of  them  had  been  long  under  prosecution  for  crimes 
of  the  same  nature.  Marcellinus,  the  intended  consul  of 
next  year,  moved  the  senate  to  hasten  the  prosecution,  and 
to  join  the  late  disorders  committed  by  the  criminal  to  the 
former  articles  of  the  charge  which  lay  against  him.  But 
Metellus  Nepos,  one  of  the  present  consuls,  and  the  relation 
of  Clodius,  having  formerly  found  means  to  put  off  the  trial, 
was  now  determined  to  prevent  it  altogether,  by  hastening 
the  election  of  ediles,  in  which  Clodius  was  candidate. 

What  passed  on  the  day  of  election  is  uncertain ;  but  it  is 
known,  that  Clodius  at  last  prevailed  ;  that,  being  elected 
edile,  he  was,  by  the  privilege  of  his  office,  screened  from 
the  prosecution  that  was  intended  against  him  ;  and  being 
himself  safe,  did  not  fail,  upon  the  expiration  of  Milo's 
tribunate,  to  retort  the  charge  upon  his  prosecutor ;  and 
accordingly  brought  him  to  trial,  on  the  second  of  February, 
for  acts  of  violence  and  breach  of  the  peace.  At  the  trial* 
Pompey,  as  well  as  Cicero,  appeared  in  defence  of  Milo ;  and 
they  succeeded  in  having  him  acquitted,  while  they  them- 
selves incurred  a  torrent  of  reproach  and  invective  on  the 
part  of  the  prosecutor. 


CHAP.  VII. 

Rdturn  of  Cato  from  Cyprus—  His  Repulse  at  the  Election  of  Pretort— 
Arrival  of  Ptolemy  Auletes  at  Rome  -  Visit  of  Pompey  and  Crassus  to 
Cesar's  Quarters  at  Lucca— Renewal  of  their  Association  -  Military 
Operations  in  Cesar's  Province—  Violent  Election  of  Crassus  and  Pompey 
—Provinces  -  Of  Crassus  in  Syria  —  Of  Pompey  in  Spain  Jor  five  years 
— Crassus  departs  for  Syria. 

THE  particulars  we  have  related  in  the  last  chapter  have 
u.    c  «- 


CM.  Vll.j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  309 

led  us  on  to  the  middle  of  February,  in  the  consulate  of 
Lentulus  Marcellinus  and  L.  Marcius  Philippus.  The  first 
was  attached  to  the  forms  of  the  republic,  and  was  a 
strenuous  partisan  of  the  senate.  His  election  was  probably 
a  continuation  of  the  victory  which  this  party  had  obtained 
In  the  restoration  of  Cicero.  Philippus  was  now  nearly 
related  to  Cesar,  having  married  his  niece,  the  widow  ot 
Octavius ;  and  possibly  owed  his  preferment  in  part  to  that 
connexion.  He  was,  by  this  alliance,  become  the  step-father 
of  young  Octavius,  now  a  boy  of  ten  years  of  age,  brought 
up  by  his  mother  in  the  house  of  her  second  husband.  This 
appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  great  moderation,  no  way 
qualified  to  be  a  party  in  the  designs  or  usurpations  of  the 
family  with  which  he  was  now  connected. 

Some  time  before  these  consuls  entered  on  office,  in  the 
end  of  the  preceding  year,  Marcus  Cato  arrived  from  having 
executed  his  commission  to  Byzantium  and  Cyprus.  Upon 
his  approach  to  Rome,  the  magistrates,  the  senate,  and 
multitudes  of  the  people  went  forth  to  receive  him.  The 
senate  thought  proper  in  this  manner  to  distinguish  their 
friends,  and  to  favour  them  with  some  marks  of  considera- 
tion, in  order  to  balance,  if  possible,  the  public  honours  that 
were  frequently  lavished  on  their  enemies. 

Cato,  in  the  execution  of  his  late  commission,  had  taken 
exact  inventories  of  all  the  eftects  sold  at  Cyprus ;  but  his 
books  being  lost,  or  burned  in  a  vessel  that  took  fire  on  the 
voyage,  Clodius  frequently  threatened  him  with  a  prosecu- 
tion to  account  for  the  sums  he  had  received ;  and  in  this 
he  was  seriously  instigated  by  Cesar,  who,  from  his  winter 
quarters  at  Lucca,  watched  all  the  proceedings  at  Rome. 

The  power  of  Cesar,  afded  by  his  influence  in  so  important 
a  station,  was  daily  increasing ;  and  as  he  spared  no  pains  to 
crush  those  whom  he  despaired  of  gaining,  so  he  declined 
no  artifice  to  gain  every  one  else.  While  in  his  winter 
quarters  at  Lucca,  many  senators  resorted  from  Rome  to 
pay  their  court,  of  these  no  less  than  two  hundred  were  taid 
to  have  been  present  at  one  time  ;  and  so  many  of  them  in 
public  characters,  that  the  lictors,  who  paraded  at  the 
entrance  of  his  quarters  with  the  badges  of  office,  amounted 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

During  this  winter,  a  question  relating  to  the  restoration 
of  Ptolemy  Auletes  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  gave  rise  to 
warm  debates  in  the  senate.  This  prince  had  lu'en  dethroned 
by  his  subjects  ;  and,  conceiving  that  he  had  sufficient  credit 
with  many  persons  at  Rome,  who  had  experienced  his 
bounty,  he  repaired  thither  to  solicit  his  own  restoration. 
To  the  great  encouragement  of  his  hopes,  he  was  favourably 
C  c 


310  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  III. 

received  by  Pomp  >y,  who  was  then  possessed  of  the  reign- 
ing-influence  in  th  ;  city,  and  who  considered  this  as  a  proper 
opportunity  to  have  a  military  commission  joined  to  the 
civil  one  of  which  he  was  already  possessed. 

The  king  of  Egypt  succeeded  in  procuring-  an  act  in  his 
own  favour,  and  Lentulus  Spinther,  consul  of  the  present 
year,  being  destined  at  the  expiration  of  his  magistracy  to 
command  in  Ciliciu  and  Cyprus,  had  inserted  the  business  of 
restoring  Ptolemy  as  apart  of  his  own  commission.  But  after 
Lentulus  was  gone  for  his  province,  this  part  of  the  com- 
mission, probably  by  the  influence  of  Pompey,  who  had 
views  on  that  expedition,  as  the  object  of  a  military  command 
for  himself,  was  recalled.  A  strong  party  of  the  nobles,  how- 
ever, being  jealous  of  the  state  which  Pompey  affected,  and 
of  his  continual  aim  at  extraordinary  powers,  conceived  an 
expedient  to  disappoint  him  on  this  occasion,  or  to  render 
the  commission  unworthy  of  his  acceptance.  In  visiting 
the  books  of  the  Sybils,  verses  were  said  to  be  found,  con- 
taining an  injunction  to  the  Romans,  not  indeed  to  withhold 
their  friendship  from  a  king  of  Egypt  soliciting  their  pro- 
tection, but  "to  beware  how  they  attempted  to  restore  him 
with  a  military  force." 

Pompey,  disgusted  with  his  disappointment  in  not  being 
named  to  this  service,  left  Rome  on  pretence  of  applying 
certain  sums  with  which  he  was  now  intrusted  for  the 
purchase  of  corn  in  Sardinia  and  Sicily.  In  his  way  he 
passed  by  Lucca,  and,  together  with  Crassus,  augmented 
the  number  of  attendants  who  paid  their  court  at  the 
quarters  of  Cesar.  At  an  interview  of  these  three  leaders 
they  renewed  their  former  confederacy;  agreeing  that 
Pompey  and  Crassus  should  themselves  enter  the  lists,  in 
order  to  exclude  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  from  the  consulate, 
and  that  on  the  expiration  of  the  term  for  which  they  were 
to  hold  this  offire,  Pompey  should  have  the  province  of 
Spain,  Crassus  that  of  Syria,  each  with  a  great  army  :  that 
Cesar  should  be  continued  in  his  present  command,  and  have 
such  additions  to  the  establishment  of  his  province  as  might 
enable  him  to  support  an  army  of  eight  Roman  legions,  with 
the  usual  accompaniments  of  auxiliaries  and  irregular 
troops.  Such  was  already  the  state  of  his  forces,  including 
a  legion  of  native  Gauls  ;  he  having,  contrary  to  the  express 
limitation  of  his  commission,  by  which  he  was  restricted  to 
three  legions.,  made  this  enormous  augmentation.  This 
convention,  like  the  former,  was,  for  some  time,  kept  a 
secret,  and  only  began  to  be  surmised  about  the  usual  tim« 
of  the  elections. 

Soon  after  theie  matters  were  settled*  Crassus  beinff  t* 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  311 

remain  in  Italy,  Pompoy  proceeded  on  his  voyage  to  Sar- 
dinia, and  Cesar  repaired  to  his  army  in  Gaul,  where  the  war 
in  different  places  had  been  renewed  in  his  absence.  Among 
the  dispositions  he  had  made  for  the  winter,  the  young 
Crassus  was  left  to  command  on  the  coasts  of  tl»e  British 
channel ;  and  Galba,  another  of  his  lieutenants,  was  posted 
among  the  Alps  to  protect  the  traders  of  Italy  at  a  principal 
pass  of  these  mountains.  This  latter  officer  had  failed  in  the 
object  for  which  he  was  stationed,  the  natives  having 
renewed  the  war,  and  forced  him  to  retire  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Geneva. 

The  war  had  broken  out  likewise  in  the  quarters  ol 
Crassus,  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  province.  Some 
nations,  who  had  made  their  submission,  and  given  hostages 
at  the  end  of  the  preceding  campaign,  repented  of  this  step, 
and  entered  into  a  concert  to  recover  their  liberties.  The 
principal  authors  of  this  revolt  were  the  inhabitants  of  what 
is  now  termed  the  coast  of  Brittany,  between  the  rivers 
Vilaine  and  Blavet.  They  trusted  to  the  strength  of  their 
situation  on  small  islands,  or  peninsulas,  that  were  joined 
to  the  continent  only  by  some  narrow  beach  or  isthmus, 
which  the  sea,  at  high  water,  overflowed.  They  depended 
likewise  on  the  strength  of  their  shipping,  in  the  use  of  which, 
by  the  practice  of  navigation  on  that  stormy  sea,  and  by  their 
frequent  voyages  even  to  Britain,  they  were  extremely 
expert. 

Cesar,  having  received  intelligence  of  this  enemy  while 
he  remained  in  his  quarters  at  Lucca,  sent  Titurius  Sabinua 
with  a  proper  force  into  Normandy,  where  the  natives  were 
already  in  arms  ;  and  the  young  Crassus  to  the  Garonne,  to 
.ve  the  natives  of  Gascony  sufficient  occupation  in  their 
own  country,  and  to  prevent  their  junction  with  the  authors 
of  this  revolt. 

He  himself  made  haste  to  join  the  troops  that  were  sta- 
tioned in  Brittany,  and  ordered  Decimus  Brutus  to 
assemble  his  fleet,  and  to  make  sail  without  loss  of  time  for 
the  bay  of  Vannes.  After  his  arrival  on  the  coast,  he  met 
with  many  difficulties.  The  enemy  had  retired  from  the 
continent  to  their  strongholds  on  the  promontories  or  head- 
lands, in  which  they  were  periodically  surrounded  by  th« 
eea.  Being  attacked  at  one  station,  they  withdrew  in 
their  boats  to  another ;  and  by  their  situation  seemed  to  ba 
secure  from  any  enemy,  who  was  not  in  a  condition  t« 
make  his  attack,  at  once,  both  by  sea  and  by  land. 

Cesar,  to  decide  the  event  of  this  singular  contest,  wai 
obliged  to  wait  the  arrival  of  his  shipping.  As  soon  as  it 
*  the  !*««*' cj  £v\,  under  sail  with  all  their  force 


312  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  ilL 

amounting  to  two  hundred  and  twenty  vessels,  and  steered 
directly  for  their  enemy. 

The  Romans  being  .inferior  to  them  in  the  use  of  their 
sails,  as  well  as  in  the  strength  of  their  vessels,  endeavoured 
to  supply  their  defect,  as  usual,  by  an  effort  of  address  and 
unexpected  contrivance.  They  had  provided  themselves 
with  scythes,  fastened  to  shafts  of  a  proper  length,  in  order 
to  cut  the  enemy's  rigging,  and  let  loose  or  discompose  their 
sails;  and  having  thus,  in  the  first  encounter,  disabled 
many  of  their  ships,  they  grappled  with  them,  and  boarded 
them  sword  in  hand. 

The  Gauls,  seeing  a  great  part  of  their  fleet  thus  irrecover- 
ab.y  lost,  would  have  escaped  with  the  remainder,  but  were 
suddenly  becalmed,  and  being,  from  ten  in  the  morning  till 
night,  continually  exposed  to  the  attack  of  the  Romans, 
were  all  either  taken  or  destroyed ;  and  the  nation,  thus 
bereft  of  its  principal  strength  and  the  nower  of  its  people, 
surrendered  again  at  discretion. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  lower  banks  of  the  Seine,  at  the 
same  timer,  having  been  defeated  by  Titurius,  returned  to 
their  former  submission.  The  nations  inhabiting  the  banks 
of  the  Garonng  were  still  inclined  to  resist  the  approaches 
of  Crassus  to  their  country.  To  the  advantage  of  numbers, 
they  joined  a  lively  courage,  of  which  the  Romans  them- 
selves had  frequently  felt  the  effects.  Crassus  being  rein- 
forced, proceeded  against  the  natives  who  were  divided 
into  many  little  hordes,  of  which  Cesar  has,  on  this  occa- 
sion, enumerated  twelve,  jealous  of  each  other,  and  unwil- 
ling to  join  even  in  their  common  defence.  They  accord- 
ingly, notwithstanding  their  valour,  fell  separately  into 
the  hands  of  the  Romans,  and  in  the  end  were  vanquished, 
or  made  their  submission. 

By  these  conquests,  the  former  acquisitions  of  Cesar  on 
the  Seine  and  the  Marne,  had  a  direct  communication  with 
the  districts  of  Toulouse  and  Narbonne,  or  what  was 
already  called  the  Roman  province  of  Gaul.  Cesar  himself, 
having  re-established  peace  in  those  tracts  which  are  now 
termed  Brittany  and  Normandy,  closed  the  campaign  and 
set  out  for  Italy.  There  his  presence  was  greatly  wanted 
by  Pompey  and  Crassus,  who,  on  the  approach  of  the  elec- 
tions>  were  likely  to  meet  with  unexpected  difficulties  in 
executing  the  plan  lately  concerted  between  them. 

At  Rome,  the  spring  and  part  of  the  summer  had  passed 
in  dispute  between  persons  connected  with  the  opposite 
parties.  Clodius  had  attacked  Cicero  in  his  own  person,  in 
his  effects,  and  in  the  persons  of  his  friends,  P.  Fextius, 
who,  in  the  character  of  tribune,  had  been  so  active  in  the 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  313 

recall  of  this  injured  exile,  and  who  had  exposed  his  life  \n 
the  riots  to  which  that  question  gave  rise,  was  now  accused, 
and  brought  to  trial  for  supposed  acts  of  violence  committed 
by  him  in  the  course  of  those  contests.  He  was  defended 
with  great  zeal  by  Hortensius,  and  with  a  proper  gratitude 
by  Cicero;  and  by  their  joint  endeavours  was,  on  the 
twelfth  of  March,  acquitted  by  the  unanimous  verdict  of 
his  judges. 

After  this  trial  was  over,  a  piece  of  superstition,  curious 
as  it  forms  a  picture  of  the  age,  gave  occasion  to  a  fresh  dis- 
pute between  Cicero  and  his  enemy  Clodius.  Upon  a  report 
that  horrid  noises  and  clashing  of  arms  had  been  hennl 
under  ground  in  one  of  the  suburbs,  the  senate  thought 
proper  to  take  the  subject  under  consideration,  and  they 
referred  it  for  interpretation  to  the  college  of  Aruspiees. 
This  body  delivered  in  judgment,  that  the  gods  wore 
otlended,  among  other  things,  by  the  neglect  and  profana- 
tion of  the  holy  rites,  and  by  the  prostitution  of  sacred 
places  to  profane  uses.  This  response  Clodius  endeavoured 
to  apply  to  the  case  of  Cicero's  house,  once  consecrated  and 
set  apart  for  religion,  and  now  again  profaned  by  being 
restored  to  its  former  owner.  Cicero  endeavoured  to  re- 
move the  charge  of  profanation  from  himself  to  Clodius,  by 
reviving  the  memory  of  his  famous  adventure  in  Cesar's 
house.  "If  I  quote  any  more  recent  act  of  impiety,"  says 
he,  "  this  citizen  will  recall  me  to  the  former  instance,  in 
which  he  intended  no  more  than  adultery."  He  proceeded, 
however,  to  apply  the  response  of  the  Augurs  to  a  late  in- 
trusion of  Clodius  in  rushing  into  the  theatre  with  an 
armed  rabble,  wliile  the  games  were  celebrating  in  honour 
of  the  great  goddess. 

The  senate  for  two  days  together  listened  to  the  mutual 
invectives  of  both  parties,  and  were  entertained  with  their 
endeavours  to  surpass.each  other  in  declarations  of  zeal  for 
religion.  Cicero,  however,  by  the  goodness  of  his  cause, 
the  force  of  his  admirable  talents,  and  perhaps  still  more  by 
the  aid  of  the  triumvirate,  whose  favour  he  earnestly  cul- 
tivated, prevailed  in  the  contest. 

This  martyr  in  the  cause  of  the  senate,  ever  since  his 
return  from  banishment,  courted  the  formidable  parties, 
whose  power,  at  least  to  hurt,  he  had  experienced.  He 
committed,  or  affected  to  commit,  himself  entirely  into  the 
hands  of  Pompey  ;  and,  with  a  declaration  of  much  attach- 
ment also  to  Cesar,  composed  a  Muttering  panegyric,  which 
this  leader  received  with  great  pleasure. 

The  aristocratical  party  now  recovered  their  courage, 
and  Domitius  Ahenobarbus.  bv  their  influence,  was  in  a 


314  HISTORY  OF  THE  [15.   ill. 

fair  way  to  succeed  in  his  election  for  consul  of  the  follow- 
ing year.  The  tribunes,  excited  chiefly  by  Caius  Cato, 
espoused  the  opposite  interest,  and  proposed  many  resolu- 
tions to  the  people,  in  order  to  favour  their  designs.  The 
consul  Marcellinus  endeavoured  to  interrupt  them  by  tho 
appointment  of  fasts  and  holidays,  in  which  it  was  not  law  • 
ful  to  transact  affairs  in  the  assembly  of  the  people.  The 
tribunes,  in  their  turn,  suspended  the  election  of  consuls, 
and  in  this  were  encouraged  by  Pompey  and  Crassus,  who 
feared  the  effect  of  a  choice  to  be  made  under  the  direction 
of  Marcellinus,  and  had  not  even  openly  declared  their  own 
intentions  to  offer  themselves. 

They  found  the  tribune,  Caius  Cato,  a  proper  instrument 
for  their  purpose,  secured  his  negative,  and  employed  it 
repeatedly  to  suspend  the  elections.  The  republic,  upon 
the  approach  of  the  new  year,  being  to  lose  its  former 
magistrates,  without  any  succession  of  new  ones,  was  likely 
to  fall  into  a  state  of  great  confusion.  The  senate  went 
into  mourning,  and  discharged  every  member  from  assist- 
ing at  any  of  the  public  diversions.  In  this  state  of  sus- 
pense and  public  alarm,  Publius  Clodius,  who  had  for  somo 
time  been  at  variance  with  Pompey,  as  if  gained  by  the 
sympathy  of  measures  on  this  occasion,  was  reconciled  tt» 
him,  and  attacked  Marcellinus  with  continual  invectives. 

In  this  manner  the  year  was  suffered  to  elapse  without 
any  election  of  consuls.  The  fasces  dropped  from  the  hands 
of  Marcellinus  and  Philippus,  and  an  interregnum  ensued, 
Pompey  and  Crassus  then  openly  appeared  as  candidates 
for  the  vacant  offices  of  state.  Young  Crassus  came  from 
the  army  in  Gaul,  attended  by  a  numerous  body  of  citizens 
then  serving  under  Cesar :  they  brought  a  considerable 
accession  of  votes  to  the  party  of  their  general,  and  were 
themselves  not  likely  to  be  outstripped  by  their  opponents 
in  acts  of  sedition  and  the  use  of  force.  Domitius  Aheno- 
barbus  alone,  supported  by  the  councils  of  his  kinsman 
Marcus  Cato,  had  the  courage  to  persist  in  a  contest  with 
these  powerful  and  dangerous  antagonists.  The  time  of 
election  being  fixed,  he  went  before  break  of  day  to  occupy 
his  place  in  the  field  of  Mars,  but  found  his  way  already 
obstructed  by  a  disorderly  populace,  and  even  by  men  in 
arms.  The  slave  who  carried  a  light  before  him  was  killed. 
Some  of  his  friends,  particularly  Marcus  Cato,  was  wound- 
ed ;  and  his  adherents  not  being  in  condition  to  dispute  the 
ground  with  the  force  that  was  assembled  against  them, 
retired  to  their  own  houses,  leaving  Pompey  and  Crassus 
to  be  named  without  opposition. 

lu  the  same  manner  the  faction  of  the  triumvirate  over- 


CH.  VI 1.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  315 

ruled  every  other  election,  procured  the  preference,  which 
has  already  been  mentioned,  of  Vatinius  to  Cato,  and  filled 
every  olnVe.  with  their  own  creatures.  They  were  disap- 
pointed in  the  notnimitiononly  of  t\vo  of  the  tribunes,  Pub- 
'  lius  Aquilius  Gallus  and  Atteius  Capito,  who  were  of  the 
opposite  party. 

These  events  however  were,  by  the  contest  which  arose 
en  every  question,  deferred  for  all  the  months  of  winter 
and  spring.*  The  offices  of  pretor  were  not  filled  up  by 
the  middle  of  May. 

Among  the  acts  of  Pompey  and  Cra-sus,  in  their  second 
consulate,  are  mentioned  some  regula:ions  respecting  the 
courts  of  justice,  and  some  resolution ;  passed  to  enforce 
the  laws  against  murder,  and  to  a:i-  in<l  those  against 
bribery  by  additional  penalties,  together  with  a  sumptuary 
law  to  check  the  extravagance  and  pro  ligality  of  the  age. 

The  allotment  of  provinces,  which  was  the  principal 
object  of  this  consulate,  Avas  for  sum-  time  kept  from  the 
view  of  the  people.  Trebonius,  however,  at  this  time  tri- 
bune of  the  people,  made  a  motion,  that  the  province  of 
Syria  should  be  assigned  to  Crassus  ;  that  of  Spain,  together 
with  Africa,  to  himself;  each  in  imitation  of  Cesar's  ap- 
pointment in  Gaul,  to  continue  for  five  years,  with  such 
establishments  of  men  and  of  money  as  the  necessity  of  tho 
service  during  that  period  might  require. 

After  encountering  strong  opposition,  Pompey  and  Cras- 
sus obtained  the  provinces  in  question,  and  on  the  terms 
proposed;  they  proceeded  to  fulfil  their  part  of  the  late 
engagement  to  Cesar,  by  moving  that  his  command  should 
be  continued  during  an  additional  term  of  five  years. 
"Now,  indeed,"  said  Cato  (addressing  himself  to  Pompey,) 
"  the  burden  is  preparing  for  your  own  shoulders.  It  will 
one  day  fall  on  the  republic,  but  not  till  after  it  has  crushed 
you  to  the  ground." 

Pompey  either  had  not  yet  begun  to  perceive  what  Cat* 
suggested  to  him,  that  the  greatest  difficulty  he  had  to  fear, 
in  preserving  the  eminence  to  which  he  aspired,  was  the 
emulation  of  Cesar:  and  that  the  s\vord  must  determine* 
the  contest  between  them ;  or  he  flattered  himself  that, 
like  the  person  who  stays  at  the  helm,  he  was  to  command 
the  vessel;  and  by  remaining  at  the  seat  of  government, 
while  his  associates  and  rivals  accepted  of  appointments  at 
a  distance,  that  he  continued  to  preside  as  sovereign,  and 
supreme  dictator  of  the  whole.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  conceptions,  he  sent  his  own  lieutenants,  A  f  rani  us 

*        C.flWL 


316  HISTORY,  &f.  [B.  III. 

and  Petreius,  as  private  agents  for  himself  into  Spain, 
while  he  himtelf  remained  in  Italy. 

Crassus  ever  considered  riches  as  the  chief  constituents 
of  power,  and  he  expected,  with  the  spoils  of  Asia,  to  equal 
the  military  or  political  advantages  that  were  likely  to  be 
acquired  by  his  rivals  in  Europe.  From  the  levies  and 
other  preparations  which  he  made  for  his  province,  it  soon 
appeared  that  he  intended  a  war  with  the  Parthians,  the 
only  antagonists  which  the  Romans  had  left  on  the  frontier 
of  Syria.  Observing  that  he  was  likely  to  meet  with  an 
opposition  to  this  design  from  the  senate  and  from  the  tri- 
bunes, who  exerted  their  powers  to  interrupt  his  prepar- 
ations, and  took  measures  to  detain  him  at  home,  he  became 
the  more  impatient  to 'set  out  for  his  province,  and  left 
Rome  before  the  expiration  of  the  year  for  which  he  was 
elected  into  the  office  of  consul.  The  tribune  Atteius 
endeavoured  to  stop  him,  first  by  his  tribunitian  negative, 
next  by  actual  force,  and  last  of  all  by  solemn  imprecations, 
devoting  the  consul  himself,  and  all  who  should  follow  him 
on  that  service,  to  destruction. 

While  Crassus  passed  through  the  gates  of  Rome,  on  his 
intended  departure  for  Asia,  this  tribune,  with  a  lighted 
fire,  the  usual  form  of  devoting  a  victim  to  the  infernal 
godat  denounced  a  curse,  which  gave  great  alarm  to  many. 


TUB 
HISTORY 

OFTHB 

PROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 

OFTHB 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK    IV. 

CHAP.  I. 

Stale  of  the  Commonwealth — Administration  of  the  Province$—  Opera* 
ttoni  of  Cesar  in  Gaul,  Germany,  and  Britain— State  of  Pompey  at 
Home — Progress  of  Crassus  into  Syria — Kingdom  of  Parthia  —Invasion 
•/  Crassus  beyond  the  Euphrates — Second  Invasion  of  Cesar  in  Britain. 

THE  provincial  appointments  of  Pompey  and  Crassus,  with 
that  which  was  at  the  same  time  prolonged  to  Cesar, 
Deemed  to  dismember  the  empire,  if  not  to  expose  the 
republic  itself  to  great  danger. 

Of  these  three  adventurers,  Pompey  and  Cesar,  apart  from 
the  evil  particularly  apprehended  in  any  of  their  measures, 
were  in  themselves  subjects  of  a  very  dangerous  character : 
neither  possessed  that  dignity  of  mind  which  fits  the  citizen 
for  the  equality  of  persons  in  a  republican  state  ;  neither 
rould  acquiesce  in  the  same  measures  of  consideration  or 
power  which  other  senators  had  enjoyed  before  him; 
neither  could  be  at  ease  where  he  did  not  command  as 
master,  or  appear  at  least  as  the  principal  object  in  every 
scene  in  which  he  was  employed. 

This  paltry  ambition,  some  ages  before,  might  have  been 
held  in  contempt  by  the  meanest  of  the  people,  or  nm-t 
have  shrunk  before  that  noble  elevation  of  mind  by  which 
the  statesman  conceived  no  eminence  besides  that  of  high 
personal  qualities  employed  in  public  M'rvio>-,  .,r  b.-ioix* 
the  austere  virtue  whirh  confined  the  public  esteem  to  arts 
of  public  utility,  supported  I»y  unblemished  reputation  in, 
private  life.  lint  in  tho  present  age,  tU*w"  *•••»•*  rt  fc^Uxuo 


318  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

which  set  such  antiquated  notions  at  defiance,  controller 
the  authority  of  the  state  itself,  and  bestowed  on  private 
adventurers  the  attachment  which  belonged  to  the  com 
momvealth,  and  the  deference  whisk  was  due  to  its  lega 
head. 

In  the  progress  of  this  republic  the  character  9f  parties 
has  already  repeatedly  changed,  and  the  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  them  accordingly  varied. 

In  the  first  periods  of  its  history,  citizens  were  divided  on 
the  supposed  distinctions  of  birth ;  and,  in  the  capacities  of 
patrician  or  plebeian,  strove  for  prerogative  or  privilege 
with  much  emulation,  as  separate  orders  of  men  in  the 
commonwealth,  but  with  little  jealousy  of  personal  inter- 
ests. 

In  a  subsequent  period,  when  the  invidious  part  of  the 
former  distinction  was  removed,  citizens  having  no  longer 
the  same  subject  of  animosity,  as  being  born  to  different 
pretensions,  they  entered  more  fully  on  the  competition  of 
individuals,  and  the  formation  of  separate  factions.  They 
strove  for  the  ascendant  of  aristocratical  or  democratical 
government,  according  to  the  interest  they  had  formed  to 
themselves  in  the  prevalence  of  either.  They  were  ready 
to  sacrifice  the  peace  and  honour  of  the  public  to  their  o\vn 
passions,  and  entered  into  disputes  accordingly,  which  were 
in  the  highest  degree  dangerous  to  the  commonwealth. 
They  thought  personal  provocations  were  sufficient  to 
justify  public  disorders  ;  or,  actuated  by  vehement  animosi- 
ties, they  signalized  their  victories  with  the  blood  of  their 
antagonists.  But,  though  sanguinary  and  cruel  in  their 
immediate  executions,  they  formed  no  deliberate  plans  of 
usurpation  to  enslave  their  country,  nor  formed  a  system 
of  evils  to  continue  beyond  the  outrage  into  which  they 
themselves  were  led  by  their  supposed  personal  wrongs  or 
factious  resentments. 

We  are  now  again  once  more  to  change  the  scene,  and 
to  have  under  our  consideration  the  conduct  of  men  wha 
were  in  reality  as  indifferent  to  any  interest  of  party  as 
they  were  to  that  of  the  republic,  or  to  any  object  of  state ; 
who  had  no  resentments  to  gratify ;  or  who  easily  sacrificed 
those  which  they  felt  to  the  purposes  of  a  cool  and  deliber- 
ate design  on  the  sovereignty  of  their  country.  Though 
rivals,  they  could  occasionally  enter  into  combinations  for 
mutual  support,  frequently  changed  their  partisans,  and 
had  no  permanent  quarrel  but  with  those  who  uniformly 
wished  to  preserve  the  republic. 

Peace  had  now,  for  some  years,  except  in  that  part 
tyhfire  Cesar  commanded,  been  es£aj?li§hed  throughout  the 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  319 

empire.  Instead  of  military  operations,  the  state  was  oc- 
rupied  in  directing  the  farms  of  the  revenue,  in  hearing 
complaints  of  oppression  from  the  provinces,  and  in  appoint* 
ing  the  succession  of  military  governors. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  Ptolemy  Auletes,  king  ot 
Egypt,  in  exile  from  his  kingdom,  had  applied  to  the  Ro- 
mans for  aid  in  recovering  his  crown ;  that  his  suit  had 
been  granted,  but  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  regard  which 
was  paid  to  a  supposed  oracle,  which  forbade  his  being  rein- 
stated with  a  military  force.  He  had  withdrawn  to  Ephe- 
sus,  and  taken  sanctuary  in  the  temple,  where  he  waited 
for  some  change  of  fortune  in  his  favour.  Lentulus,  the 
governor  of  Cilicia,  to  whom  the  business  of  restoring  him, 
though  without  military  force,  had  been  committed  by  the 
senate,  deliberated  whether  he  should  not  venture  to  dis- 
regard the  restriction  imposed  upon  him ;  march  with  an 
army  and  restore  the  king  of  Egypt.  But  the  business  still 
remained  in  suspense,  when  Gabinius  arrived  in  Syria,  and 
probably,  by  an  advice  from  Pompey,  undertook  the  re- 
storation of  this  exile  to  his  throne.  Having  received  or 
bargained  for  a  great  sum  of  money  in  return  for  this  ser- 
vice, he  advanced  with  a  fleet  and  an  army  towards  Egypt, 
defeated  the  forces  of  Berenice,  and  restored  Ptolemy  to  his 
kingdom. 

In  this  busy  time  of  Cesar's  faction  at  Rome,  he  himself, 
opon  an  alaun  of  an  invasion  from  Germany,  had  been 
called  to  defend  the  northern  extremity  of  Gaul.  Two 
separate  hordes,  the  Tenchteri  and  Usipetes,  pretending  to 
be  driven  by  superior  force  from  the  usual  tract  of  their 
migrations,  had  united  together,  and  presented  themselves 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  The  native  inhabitants  of  the 
right  of  that  river  instantly  abandoned  their  habitations, 
and  collecting  all  the  boats  that  could  be  found  on  it  to  the 
opposite  side,  made  a  disposition  to  stop  the  passage  of  these 
invaders. 

The  Germans,  observing  the  precautions  which  were 
taking  against  them,  affected  to  lay  aside  the  design  of  pas- 
sing the  Rhine ;  and,  by  changing  their  course,  made  a 
feint  to  divert  the  attention  of  their  antagonists.  But  they 
suddenly  turned  their  whole  cavalry,  and  in  one  night  re- 
j>:i-- <•(!  the  ground  over  which  they  had  inarched  on  the 
three  preceding  days,  surprised  a,  suth'rient  number  of  boats 
with  which  to  accomplish  their  passage,  dislodged  the  na- 
tives of  the  country  on  the  left  of  the  river  before  them. 
and  from  thence  continued  their  migrations  betwixt  tha 
Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  over  what  is  now  called  the  ducuie* 
of  Juliers,  of  Limburg  and  Luxemburg. 


320  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

These  invaders  amounted,  by  Cesar's  account,  to  upwards 
of  four  hundred  thousand  souls  ;  a  number  which  exceeds 
that  of  the  inhabitants  of  any  city  in  Europe,  besides  Lon- 
don and  Paris,  and  which  may  perhaps  raise  some  suspicion 
of  error  in  copying-  the  text,  or  of  exaggeration  in  the  com- 
mentary, which  was  itself  intended  to  raise  the  character  o» 
Cesar  at  Rome. 

The  Suevi,  before  whom  the  present  invaders  of  Gaul 
had  retired,  were  said  to  consist  of  a  hundred  cantons,  each 
furnishing  annually  a  thousand  men  for  war,  and  a  like 
number  for  the  care  of  their  herds  and  domestic  concerns. 
Such  clouds  gathering  on  the  frontiers  of  Cesar's  province, 
required  his  presence.  He  accordingly  assembled  his  army, 
and  advanced  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse.  Being 
arrived  within  twelve  miles  of  the  camp  of  the  Germans, 
he  was  met  by  their  deputies,  with  au  offer  to  treat  with 
him. 

Cesar  seems  to  have  granted  a  cessation  of  arms ;  and 
sent  an  order  to  his  vanguard  to  abstain  from  hostilities. 
This  order,  however,  had  no  effect.  His  advanced  guard, 
consisting  of  five  thousand  horse,  had  an  encounter  with 
eight  hundred  of  the  enemy. 

On  the  day  which  followed  this  skirmish  of  the  cavalry, 
the  leaders  and  principal  men  of  the  Germans  leaving  their 
own  camp  unfurnished  with  officers,  in  perfect  security, 
came  in  great  numbers  to  that  of  Cesar  to  exculpate  them- 
selves, to  convince  him  of  their  pacific  dispositions,  and  to 
prevent  the  farther  progress  of  his  army.  This  he  thought 
a  favourable  opportunity  to  cut  off,  by  a  complete  surprise, 
this  enemy  entirely,  and  to  finish  the  war.  Having  accord- 
ingly secured  the  persons  of  their  leaders,  who  had  thus  put 
themselves  in  his  hands,  he  advanced  with  his  whole  army 
directly  to  their  camp,  easily  overcame  the  few  that  took 
arms  to  oppose  him,  and  without  distinction  of  sex  or  age, 
put  the  whole  to  the  sword.  The  country,  over  all  the 
ways  by  which  they  endeavoured  to  escape  from  the  camp, 
at  which  the  slaughter  began,  to  the  confluence  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  was  strewed  with  the  slain. 

The  Roman  people,  though  seldom  sparing  of  the  blood 
of  their  enemies,  were  shocked  at  the  recital  of  this  extra- 
ordinary massacre ;  and  proposed  to  deliver  up  the  person 
of  Cesar  to  those  injured  nations,  that  he  might  expiate,  by 
liis  own  sufferings,  so  many  acts  of  injustice  and  impiety, 
which  the  gods  might  otherwise  avenge  on  his  country. 

The  German  horse  by  their  absence  had  escaped  this  ca- 
lamity which  befell  their  countrymen,  and  appear  to  have 
taken  refuge  with  some  of  the  hordes  who  lived  near  the 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  3*J 

sources  of  the  Roer  and  the  Lippe.  Thither  Cesar,  to 
spread  the  terror  of  his  arms,  soon  afterwards  pursued 
them ;  passed  the  Rhine  by  a  bridge,  which  was  executed  in 
ten  days,  with  much  ingenuity,  and  some  ostentation  of  his 
power  and  skill,  and  advanced  into  the  contiguous  parts  of 
Germany,  where,  on  account  of  the  reception  given  in  that 
quarter  to  the  cavalry  who  had  escaped  the  late  massacre 
on  the  Meuse,  he  laid  the  country  under  military  execution. 

This  singular  man,  whose  abilities  were  equal  to  any 
task,  now  projected  the  invasion  of  Britain,  though  sur- 
rounded by  the  ocean,  and  untouched  by  the  arms  of  any 
foreign  invader.  To  carry  this  design  into  immediate  exe- 
cution, as  soon  as  he  had  repassed  the  Rhine,  he  continued 
his  march  through  the  low  countries,  and  collected  hi* 
forces  jn  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Portus  Itius  and  Geso- 
riacum.* 

The  extent  of  this  island,  the  numbers  and  character  of 
its  people,  were  then  unknown  on  the  continent.  Cesar 
having  in  vain  endeavoured  to  procure  information  in  these 
particulars,  sent  a  galley  with  orders  to  explore  the  coast, 
and  to  observe  the  countenance  of  the  natives.  He  ordered 
all  his  shipping,  and  even  those  vessels  which  he  had  em- 
ployed the  preceding  year  against  the  Veneti,t  to  sail  round 
the  Cape  of  Brittany  into  the  British  channel,  and  repair  to 
the  straits  which  separate  this  island  from  the  continent. 

On  the  report  of  these  preparations,  which  evidently 
pointed  at  Britain,  some  of  the  natives,  willing  to  avert  by 
negotiation  the  storm  which  threatened  them,  sent  to  the 
Roman  proconsul  a  submissive  message,  and  offered  to  come 
under  his  protection. 

Cesar,  founding  a  claim  to  the  possession  of  the  island  on 
these  advances  which  were  made  to  him,  proceeded  with 
more  boldness  to  the  execution  of  his  enterprise.  That  the 
natives  of  the  country  he  was  leaving  might  not  create  any 
trouble  in  his  absence,  he  obliged  them  to  give  hostages, 
and  made  a  proper  disposition  of  his  army  to  keep  them  in 
awe.  He  had  assembled  at  the  most  convenient  haveo-on 
the  Gaulish  side,  now  supposed  to  be  the  \Vissan,  between 
Calais  and  Boulogne,  eighty  transports  or  ships  of  burden, 
with  a  number  of  galleys  to  accommodate  the  officers  of 
rank,  and  their  equipage.  The  remainder  of  his  shipping  was 
yet  detained,  by  contrary  winds,  in  a  creek  at  some  miles' 
distance,  supposed  to  be  Boulogne;  thither  he  sent  his 
cavalry,  with  orders  to  embark  on  board  the  ships  where 
they  lay.  He  himself  went  on  board,  with  the  infantry  of 

*  Calais  and  Boulogne.         t  In  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  about  Vaonet. 


322  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

two  legions,  at  the  former  haven,  and  having1  found  a  fav- 
ourable wind  and  moderate  weather,  weighed  about  ten 
at  night,  and  reached  the  coast  of  Britain,  on  the  following 
day,  at  ten  in  the  morning.  The  clifts,  where  he  first  came 
near  to  the  shore,  were  high  and  steep,  and  the  hills  were 
covered  with  numerous  bodies  of  foot,  of  men  on  horse- 
back, and  even  in  wheel  carriages,  from  which  the  natives 
of  this  country  were  accustomed  to  make  war.  It  being 
impossible  to  land  under  such  difficulties,  and  in  the  face  of 
this  opposition,  he  bore  away,  as  is  probable,  to  the  north- 
ward about  eight  miles,  with  a  favourable  wind,  to  some 
part  of  the  flat  shore  which  surrounds  the  Downs;  and 
here,  in  the  manner  of  ancient  debarkations,  for  which  the 
shipping  of  those  times  was  built,  ran  his  transports  aground 
and  prepared  to  land. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Britons  came  down  to  the  strand, 
and  advanced  even  some  way  into  the  water  to  oppose  the 
descent.  Cesar  seeing  his  men  unusually  backward,  did 
not  think  proper  in  these  circumstances  to  urge  them  far- 
ther ;  but  ordered  some  of  the  lightest  vessels,  which  were 
mounted  with  missile  engines,  or  manned  with  archers  and 
elingers,  to  row  as  near  to  the  shore  as  they  could  on  the 
right  and  the  left  of  the  landing-place,  and  from  thence  to 
gall  the  enemy.  This  disposition  succeeded  so  well,  that 
the  beach  close  to  the  water  was  presently  cleared,  and  the 
Romans  were  left  to  descend  from  their  ships,  and  to  wade 
undisturbed  to  the  land. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  the  Roman  infantry  had  landed, 
a  second  division  of  ships,  with  the  cavalry,  appeared  in 
sight ;  but  before  they  could  reach  the  land,  were  dispersed 
by  a  violent  storm,  even  the  shipping,  from  which  the 
legions  had  disembarked,  were  set  adrift,  or  filled  with 
water,  many  of  them  beat  to  pieces  or  greatly  shattered, 
and  rendered  unserviceable.  Hereupon  the  natives  began 
to  drive  away  the  cattle,  and  to  lay  waste  the  country 
within  reach  of  the  Roman  camp.  They  flattered  them- 
selves that  the  enemy  would  be  obliged  to  depart,  or  must 
perish  for  want  of  provisions.  They  assembled  in  great 
bodies  to  intercept  the  foragers  of  Cesar,  and  obliged  him  to 
cover  them  with  the  whole  force  of  his  army.  The  legions 
were  at  first  greatly  disconcerted  by  the  unusual  effect  of 
the  British  chariots,  and  by  the  want  of  their  own  cavalry ; 
but  as  they  prevailed  in  every  close  fight,  the  Britons  were 
soon  dispirited,  submitted,  and  agreed  to  deliver  up  a  number 
of  hostages.  But  Cesar  not  thinking  it  proper,  with  shat- 
tered vessels,  at  the  mercy  of  autumnal  winds  and  stormy 
seas,  to  await  the  performance  of  this  article,  ordered  th« 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  32S 

hostages  to  be  sent  :\ftor  him  into  Gaul,  reimbarked  with 
his  army,  and  with  the  first  favourable  wind  repassed  to 
the  continent.  At  his  arrival,  he  found  that  the  Morini, 
inhabiting  what  are  now  the  districts  of  Calais  and  Dun- 
kirk, with  other  nations  of  the  low  countries,  had  taken 
anns  against  the  officers  he  had  stationed  to  keep  them  in 
awe.  The  campaign  therefore  concluded  with  the  opera- 
tions which  wen;  necessary  to  quell  this  revolt.  Cesar, 
having  taken  measures  to  enable  him  at  a  more  convenient 
season  to  renew  his  expedition  into  Britain,  set  out  as 
usual  for  Italy,  and  for  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  Here 
he  found  Pompey  and  Crassus  employed,  as  has  been 
already  related,  in  obtaining  for  themselves,  and  for  him, 
the  objects  which  they  had  severally  in  view.  As  if  secure 
of  their  interests,  they  permitted  the  election  of  consuls  to 
proceed  without  disturbance  ;  and  suffered  Lucius  Domitius 
Ahenobarbus,  a  professed  partisan  of  the  senate,  together 
with  Ap'pius  Claudius,  to  be  elected  consuls;  Marcus  Cato, 
and  Milo,  to  be  placed  in  the  list  of  pretors ;  and  several 
citizens,  well  affected  to  the  senate,  to  bo  admitted  into  the 
college  of  tribunes.* 

The  winter  and  spring,  however,  were  inactive  on  the 
part  of  the  aristocracy.  Pompey,  now  master  of  Spain 
and  part  of  Africa,  with  an  adequate  army,  still  under 
the  pretence,  as  has  be«n  mentioned,  of  his  commission 
to  furnish  the  public  granaries  with  corn,  remained  in 
Italy,  and  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  time  among  his 
country  villas.  He  was  attended  by  numbers  of  every  rank 
and  condition,  who  treated  him  as  a  great  prince,  and  with 
his  connivance  fomented  disorders  tending  to  shake  the 
government  of  the  senate ;  to  the  end  that  the  republic 
might  be  forced  to  rely  on  him  for  support,  while  he  him- 
self affected  to  decline  the  burden. 

In  the  management  of  these  intrigues,  and  in  the  full 
hopes  of  their  success,  Pompey  was  now  left  by  Crassus,  as 
well  as  by  Cesar.  The  first,  in  his  impatience  to  take  pos- 
session of  his  government,  had  broken  through  all  the  impe- 
diments that  were  placed  to  hinder  his  departure  from 
Rome,  made  haste  to  Brundusium  with  his  army,  embark- 
ed, notwithstanding  the  unfavourableness  of  the  season. 
And,  with  considerable  loss,  both  of  men  and  of  shipping  in 
»  storm,  made  his  passage  into  Macedonia. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Syria,  he  pillaged  the  temple  of  the 
Jews,  and  laid  hold  of  treasure  wherever  else  he  could  find 
it.  He  made  a  pretence  of  the  military  levies  to  be  mad* 

*  U.  C.  690. 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

in  the  provinces  for  extorting-  money;  and  afterwards, 
reserving  the  money  he  had  raised  for  his  own  use,  neglect- 
ed the  levies.  In  the  same  spirit  of  avarice  and  rapacity, 
lie  invaded  the  Parthians  without  any  authority  from  the 
state,  and  even  without  the  pretence  of  a  quarrel. 

The  Parthians,  like  other  dynasties  which  before  or  since 
have  arisen  in  that  part  of  the  world,  or  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  were  of  Scythian 
extraction.  On  the  decline  of  the  Macedonian  power, 
about  two  hundred  years  before  the  present  date,  a  swarm 
from  the  north  had  migrated  to  the  lower  banks  of  the 
Tigris,  overran  the  country  round  Ctesiphon,  continued  to 
harass  the  neighbourhood  by  their  depredations;  and,  at 
last,  being  commanded  by  Arsaces,  the  founder  of  this  new 
kingdom,  took  possession  of  an  extensive  country,  and 
though  under  a  new  name,  in  fact  restored  the  monarchy 
of  Persia. 

The  Parthian,  or  new  Persian  monarchy,  being  yet  in  its 
vigour,  was  the  most  formidable  power  that  now  anywhere 
appeared  within  reach  of  the  Roman  arms.  Its  forces  con- 
sisted almost  entirely  of  horse.  They  had  different  notions 
of  victory  and  defeat  from  other  nations;  they  always 
counted  it  a  victory,  when,  by  their  flights,  they  drew  an 
enemy  into  straits  by  hasty  and  unguarded  pursuits,  and 
often  enjoyed  the  greatest  advantage  when  they  seemed  to 
be  routed  and  to  fly. 

When  Crassus  advanced  to  the  Euphrates,  Orodes  king 
of  Parthia,  then  engaged  ill  a  war  with  Artabazus,  on  the 
side  of  Armenia,  sent  a  deputation  to  expostulate  with  the 
Roman  general  on  the  cause  of  his  hostile  approach  ;  Cras- 
sus made  answer,  that  he  would  give  the  reasons  of  his 
coming  when  he  arrived  at  Seleucia.  Crassus  proceeded 
hi  his  march,  passed  the  Euphrates,  and  ravaged  Mesopo- 
tamia without  any  resistance.  Having  continued  his  oper- 
ations until  the  end  of  the  seasoit,  he  returned  for  the  win- 
ter into  Syria.  Upon  his  arrival  in  this  province,  he  was 
joined  by  his  son  Publius,  who  had  served  some  years  in  a 
considerable  rank  in  the  army  in  Gaul,  and  was  now  de- 
tached by  Cesar  with  a  thousand  horse,  and  many  marks  ot 
honour,  to  act  under  his  father  in  Syria. 

Cesar,  in  the  mean  time,  found  continual  occupation  for 
his  troops  in  Gaul,  or  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  pro- 
vince. Early  in  spring,  he  returned  to  the  quarters  of  his 
army  in  the  low  countries,  and  directed  a  great  armament 
to  assemble  at  the  same  port  from  which  he  sailed  on  the 
preceding  year,  in  order  to  receive  the  army  on  their  in- 
tended invasion  of  Britain.  The  force  intended  for  this 


CH.  I.J  ROiMAN  RKPUI3L1C. 

expedition  to  Britain  consisted  of  five  legions  anio  i:,ti:i^ 
possibly,  on  the  probable  supposition  that  they  were  not 
complete,  to  about  twenty  thousand  men,*  together  with  ? 
body  of  Gauls,  including1  many  of  their  chiefs,  whom  Cesar 
chose  to  retain  wifch  his  army,  rather  as  hostages  for  thi» 
fidelity  of  their  countrymen,  than  as  auxiliaries  in  the  war. 
The  fleet  consisted  of  five  hundred  and  sixty  transport  ves- 
sels, twenty-eight  armed  galleys,  with  many  tenders  and 
small  craft,  provided  by  officers  for  their  own  conveniency, 
and  for  the  reception  of  their  equipages ;  in  all  eight  hun- 
dred sail. 

The  wind  being  northerly  for  five-and-twenty  days  after 
the  fleet  was  assembled,  the  troops  still  remained  on  shore. 
At  the  expiration  of  this  time  the  wind  changed,  and  on 
the  embarkation  proceeded,  and  being  completed  at  sunset 
of  the  same  day,  the  wind  being  still  fair,  the  fleet  weighed, 
and  got  into  the  channel.  At  daybreak,  they  saw  the  land 
of  Britain  on  their  left,  and  arrived  at  noon  at  a  convenient 
part  of  the  coast  not  far  distant  from  the  landing-place  of 
the  former  year,  but  less  exposed  to  the  sea.  This  place 
we  may  suppose  to  have  been  Pigwell  Bay,  beyond  the 
mouth  of  the  Stour,  or  the  entry  to  Sandwich  Haven. 

The  Britons  had  assembled  as  formerly  to  oppose  the 
descent  of  the  Romans  ;  but,  on  the  appearance  of  so  great 
a  fleet,  were  intimidated,  and  withdrew  from  the  coast. 
Cesar,  being  informed  that  the  Britons  had  their  forces 
assembled  on  a  small  river  (probably  the  Stour,)  at  the  dis- 
tance of  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  his  landing-place,  put 
his  army  in  motion  in  the  night,  and  at  break  of  day  came 
up  with  them,  dislodged  them  from  their  post,  and  obliged 
them  to  retreat.  He  had  taken  his  resolution  to  pursue 
them  on  the  following  day,  and  had  begun  his  march  in 
three  divisions,  when  a  messenger  overtook  him  with  tid- 
ings, that  all  his  ships,  in  a  storm  which  arose  in  the  preced- 
ing night,  had  been  driven  from  their  anchors,  had  run  foul 
of  each  other,  that  many  of  them  were  stranded  and 
wrecked,  and  all  of  them  greatly  damaged. 

Cesar,  on  this  report,  having  fixed  the  main  body  of  his 
army  in  a  well-fortified  camp,  selected  a  proper  e-c<>rt, 
;m<l  returned  to  the  coast.  At  his  arrival  he  found  that 
forty  of  his  ships  were  irrecoverably  lost;  but  that  the 
remainder,  though  greatly  damaged,  might  be  refitted.  In 
the  work  of  refitting  and  securing  these  vessels  and  build- 
ing new  ones  th'j  army  was  incessantly  employed  for  ten 
day-,  and  without  intermission  even  in  the  night.  The 

•  Tlip  legions,  at  the  end  of  IliU  campaign,  wrrc  reduced  to  3.600 

1)    !. 


326  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

fleet,  at  length,  being  in  this  manner  secured  from  the  dan 
gers  of  the  sea,  and  covered  by  an  intrenchment  on  the  side 
of  the  land,  he  returned  to  his  camp,  and  resumed  the  oper- 
ations of  his  army. 

It  appears  that  the  natives  of  Britain,  being  divided  inte> 
many  small  cantons,  or  separate  principalities,  and,  as  usual 
in  such  cases,  frequently  at  war  among  themselves,  had  been 
actually  at  variance  when  Cesar  arrived ;  but  during  the 
short  respite  which  the  disaster  that  had  befallen  his  fleet 
had  given  them,  they  had  agreed  to  suspend  their  own 
quarrels,  and  were  assembled  in  greater  numbers  than  for- 
merly, under  Cassivelaunus,  a  chieftain  of  Middlesex. 

This  chieftain  brought  into  the  field  a  numerous  army  of 
infantry,  of  horsemen,  and  armed  chariots.  His  knowledge 
of  the  woods  enabled  him  to  harass  the  Romans  on  their 
march,  and,  following  the  tracts  that  were  clear  of  under- 
wood, not  only  to  gall  them  with  missiles  from  the  thickets 
but  to  charge  them  likewise  with  his  horsemen  and  chariots, 
even  in  places  where  the  ground  seemed  least  fitted  for  the 
movement  of  such  bodies.  Encouraged  with  his  success  in 
this  species  of  warfare,  he  ventured  to  attack  the  whole 
cavalry  of  the  Roman  army,  which,  being  on  a  foraging 
party,  were  supported  by  an  entire  legion.  But  the 
Britons  being,  in  this  attempt,  defeated  with  great  slaughter, 
their  chief  lost  courage,  or  was  deserted  by  his  followers, 
arid  never  more  attempted  to  face  the  Romans. 

Cesar,  finding  this  enemy  remit  his  ardour,  advanced 
with  a  quicker  pace.  He  appears  to  have  followed  the  vale 
of  the  Stour  to  Ashford,  and  from  thence  to  have  kept  on 
the  plains  to  Maidstone :  and  then  to  have  advanced  to  the 
banks  of  the  Thames  at  the  reach  which  runs  from  south 
to  north,  somewhere  between  Kingstone  and  Brentford. 
There  he  observes,  that  the  only  ford  in  the  river  was 
fenced  and  guarded ;  that  a  row  of  sharp  stakes  was  driven 
under  water ;  that  the  opposite  bank  was  lined  with  a 
palisade,  and  manned  by  a  numerous  body  of  the  natives. 
He  nevertheless  proceeded  to  force  his  way,  and  by  the 
impetuosity  of  his  attack,  drove  the  enemy  from  their  post, 
and  effected  his  passage. 

Cassivelaunus  had,  for  some  time,  made  no  attempt  to 
resist  the  Roman  army ;  he  had  contented  himself  with 
observing  their  motions,  and  with  endeavouring  to  strip  the 
country  before  them  of  every  particular  by  which  they  could 
profit  on  their  march.  Cesar,  on  his  part,  advanced  with 
Jne  precautions  necessary  against  such  an  enemy,  and,  as 
.hey  had  destroyed  what  could  be  of  immediate  use  to  his 
arif  y,  he  destroyed  what  was  left,  in  order  to  force  the 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  327 

natives  to  submission.  In  this  state  of  the  war,  having 
leisure  and  opportunity  to  observe  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  the  manners  of  the  people,  he  gives  the  follow- 
ing account  of  both :  "  That  on  the  coast  there  were  colonies 
from  the  neighbouring  continent,  still  distinguished  by  the 
names  of  the  countries  from  whence  they  had  come;  that 
these  colonies,  being  possessed  of  agriculture,  and  well 
stocked  with  cattle,  were  extremely  populous ;  that  they 
had  money  made  of  iron  or  brass  ;  the  first  of  which  metals, 
with  great  quantities  of  tin,  were  found  in  their  own  island; 
the  other  metal  was  imported  from  abroad  ;  that  the  winter 
was  milder  here  than  in  Gaul ;  that  the  woods  of  Britain 
furnished  the  same  timber  with  those  of  Gaul,  except  the 
tir  and  the  beech ;  and  that  the  houses  were  built  in  the 
same  manner  in  both  countries."  From  this  account  of  the 
coast  he  proceeds  to  observe,  "  That  the  inland  parts  were 
occupied  by  the  original  natives,  who,  with  little  corn,  sub- 
sisted chiefly  by  milk  and  the  other  produce  of  their  herds ; 
that,  by  a  particular  superstition,  although  possessed  of 
hares,  of  geese,  and  other  fowls,  they  were  forbid  to  eat  of 
these  animals  ;  that  they  were  curious  in  the  ornaments  of 
the  person;  affected  to  have  bushy  whiskers,  and  long  hair; 
that  they  stained  or  painted  their  bodies  of  a  blue  colour, 
and  had  no  clothes  besides  the  skins  of  beasts  ;  that  they  as- 
sociated in  small  clubs  or  fraternities  of  ten  or  a  dozen  in 
number."  And  adds  a  circumstance,  in  which,  if  he  were 
not  deceived,  as  is  common  enough  to  foreigners,  by  some 
appearances  which  were  not  sufficiently  explained  to  him, 
he  gives  a  striking  example  of  the  diversity  which  takes 
place  among  mankind  in  settling  the  canon  of  external 
Actions.  The  brothers,  the  father,  and  the  son,  though 
separately  married,  and  reputed  the  parents  of  children, 
brought  forth  by  their  respective  wives,  yet,  without 
iealousy  or  imputation  of  evil,  lived  with  those  wives  in 
common. 

Cesar,  being  on  the  left  of  the  Thames,  made  an  alliance 
with  the  Trinobantes,  supposed  to  have  been  the  inhabitants 
of  Essex  and  Suffolk.  The  sovereign  of  this  canton  having, 
in  some  quarrel  with  his  own  people,  been  expelled  from 
his  dominion,  had  taken  refuge  with  Cesar  in  Gaul,  and  wat 
now,  by  force  of  the  Roman  arms,  restored  to  his  kingdom. 
Five  other  principalities  submitted  at  the  same  time. 
Cassirelaunus  retired  to  his  principal  fortress,  from  which 
he  was  driven  by  the  Romans,  leaving  some  herds  of  cattle, 
and  many  of  his  men,  to  fall  into  their  hands.  After  this 
defeat,  the  British  prince  endeavoured,  as  a  last  resource,  to 
give  Cesar  some  trouble  in  his  rear ;  and  for  this  purpose 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B7  IV. 

sent  an  order  to  the  four  princes  of  Kent,  to  assemble  their 
people,  and  endeavour  to  force  the  Roman  station,  and 
destroy  the  Roman  shipping-,  where  they  lay  on  the  coast. 
They  accordingly  attacked  the  intrenchment,  but  were 
repulsed ;  and  Cassivelaunus  himself,  reduced  to  despair  by 
the  defection  of  so  many  of  his  countrymen,  and  by  his 
repeated  defeats,  determined  to  make  his  submission.  The 
season  of  the  year  being  far  advanced,  and  Cesar,  desirous  to 
retire  with  honour  from  a  country  in  which  he  was  not  pre- 
pared to  make  any  settlements,  accepted  this  on  easy  terms. 
A  certain  tribute  was  imposed  on  the  nations  inhabiting 
the  banks  of  the  Thames,  hostages  taken  for  the  payment 
of  it,  and  the  invaders,  with  a  host  of  prisoners,  retired  to 
their  ships,  and  were  transported  into  Gaul. 


CHAP.  II. 

Death  of  Julia  the  daughter  of  Cetar  and  wife  of  Pompey— Trial  o/ 
Gabiniux — Detection  of  an  infamous  Transaction  of  Memmiut  mnd 
Alienobarbus— Revolt  of  the  Low  Countries — Military  Execution  against 
the  Inhabitants  of  the  Country  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse— 
Operations  of  Crassus  in  Mesopotamia — His  Death— Competition  for 
the  Consulate — Death  of  Clodius  —Riot  in  the  City— Pompey  sole  Con- 
sul-Trial of  Milo. 

WHILE  the  Roman  army  was  in  Britain,  there  happened, 
by  the  death  of  Julia,  the  daughter  of  Cesar  and  wife  of 
Pompey,  a  great  change  in  the  discontinuance  of  the  rela- 
tion which  subsisted  between  them,  and  in  the  separation 
of  their  supposed  political  interests.  While  the  familiar 
relation  of  father-in-law  and  son  subsisted  between  Cesar 
and  Pompey,  and  while  Crassus  continued  to  hold  a  species 
of  balance  in  their  councils,  they  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  a 
participation  of  consequence  and  power.  But  the  death  of 
Julia,  and  that  likewise  of  the  child  of  which  she  had  been 
delivered  only  a  few  days  before  her  death,  put  an  end,  not 
only  to  any  real  cordiality  in  this  connexion,  but  even  to 
any  semblance  of  friendship,  and  rendered  them,  from  this 
time  forward,  mutually  jealous  of  the  advantages  they 
severally  gained,  whether  in  respect  to  force  in  the  provinces, 
or  to  state  and  popularity  at  Rome. 

In  the  mean  time,  parties  in  the  city,  though  engaged  on 
the  side  of  different  competitors  for  office  at  the  approaching 
elections,  were  likewise  intent  on  th<»  cause  of  Gabinius. 
This  officer,  while  yet  in  his  pr«vi'^  %:,  had  been  impeached 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  329 

for  disobeying  the  orders  of  the  senate,  and  for  contempt  of 
religion  in  his  expedition  to  Kgypt.  But  having,  by  the 
influence  of  Pompey  and  of  Cesar,  eluded  his  first  attack, 
he  set  out  for  Rome  in  great  confidence.  No  less  than  three 
prosecutions  were  preparing  against  him :  one  for  treason, 
one  for  extortion  in  his  province,  and  one  for  some  other 
mines. 

Before  his  trial  for  extortion  took  place,  C.  Memmius,  one 
of  the  tribunes,  on  the  ninth  of  October  delivered  to  the 
people,  with  great  force,  a  charge  of  treason  against  Gabi- 
nius.  The  judgment  of  the  tribes  being  called,  and  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  likely  to  pass,  while  the  lictors  were 
preparing  to  seize  their  prisoner,  his  son,  a  young  man, 
with  much  filial  piety,  a  virtue  highly  esteemed  by  the  Ro- 
mans, threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  tribune,  and  being 
rudely  spurned  on  the  ground,  happened  to  drop  his  ring, 
the  badge  of  Roman  nobility ;  the  spectators  were  moved ; 
Lelius  Balbus,  another  of  the  tribunes  interposed,  and, 
with  the  general  approbation  of  the  people,  commanded  the 
process  to  stop. 

The  other  prosecutions  nevertheless  were  continued 
against  Gabinius.  One  before  the  pretor  Alfius,  in  which 
the  majority  of  the  judges  voted  to  acquit,  another  before 
Cato,  on  a  charge  of  depredation  in  his  province,  to  the 
.mount  of  four  hundred  millions  Roman  money,  or  about 
ihree  millions  sterling ;  in  this  last  he  was  condemned,  and 
forced  into  exile. 

The  approaching  elections  gave  rise  to  competitions  and 
intrigues  more  connected  with  the  state  of  the  republic,  and 
more  an  indication  of  the  manners  which  then  prevailed. 
The  poorer  citizens  came  to  depend  for  their  subsistence  on 
the  gratuities,  which  were  made  or  procured  by  those  who 
aspired  to  the  offices  of  state.  The  laws  against  bribery 
were  losing  their  force  for  want  of  persons  to  prosecute  a 
crime,  of  .which  so  many  either  wished  to  reap  the  benefit, 
or  which  many  were  so  strongly  tempted  to  commit.  To 
supply  this  defect,  Cato  obtained  an  edict,  requiring  the 
ordinary  judgo.s,  that  were  named  for  trials  within  th<» 
year,  to  take  cognizance  of  the  means  by  which  candidates 
succeeded  to  office;  and  to  set  those  aside  who  were  found 
to  have  inrurred  the  penalties  of  corruption.  The  tribunes 
interposed  their  negative  ;  the  proposal  gave  great  otlem-e 
to  the  parties  concerned;  and  Cato,  being  attacked  l»y  th« 
populace,  narrowly  e.-caped  with  hi-  life.  He  afterwards,  in  a 
full  assembly  of  the  more  respectable  citi/.eus,  was  favoura- 
bly heard  on  this  subject.  But  Terentins,  one  of  the  tr; 
buii.es,  still  persisting  in  his  negative,  this  attempt  to 


330  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

restrain  the  corrupt  practices  of  those  who  canvassed  for 
office  had  no  effect. 

In  the  competition  for  the  consulate,  corruption  was  car- 
ried to  the  greatest  excess.  An  office  was  opened,  at  which 
the  candidates  dealt  out  money  to  the  people,  who  came  in 
the  order  of  their  tribes  to  receive  it.  All  the  four  candi- 
dates, Memmius,  M.  Scaurus,  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus,  and  M. 
Messala,  mutually  raised  prosecutions  for  bribery  against 
each  other  ;  and  in  the  course  of  these  transactions,  it  ap- 
peared that  Memmius,  once  a  vehement  partisan  of  the 
senate,  had  made  his  peace  with  Cesar,  and  was  now  sup- 
ported by  his  party  at  Rome. 

It  appeared  that,  among1  other  irregularities  at  Rome  in 
the  administration  of  government,  even  laws,  and  supposed 
acts  of  the  senate  or  people,  could  be  forged  or  surrepti- 
tiously obtained.  The  present  consuls,  Cneius  Domitius 
Ahenobarbus,  and  Ap.  Claud.  Pulcher,  entered  into  a  com- 
pact with  those  two  who  were  candidates  to  succeed  them, 
Caius  Memmius  and  C.  Domitius  Calvinus :  the  two  first, 
to  secure  their  own  nomination  to  lucrative  provinces  at 
the  expiration  of  their  consulship ;  the  two  others  now 
standing  for  this  office,  to  secure  their  elections :  and  the 
parties  agreed  to  forge  an  edict  of  the  senate  and  of  the 
people*  fixing  the  consular  provinces.  Memmius,  however, 
being  gained  by  the  parties  of  Cesar  and  Pompey,  was  per- 
suaded to  sacrifice  his  own  reputation  in  order  to  ruin  that 
of  Domitius  Ahenobarbus;  and  laid  this  strange  agree- 
ment, which  had  been  drawn  up  in  writing,  together  with 
the  bonds  which  had  been  granted  upon  it,  before  the 
senate. 

The  infamy  of  this  recent  transaction  produced  a  delay  of 
the  elections,  until  the  term  of  the  present  consuls  in  office 
was  expired.  An  interregnum  accordingly  ensued.  The 
partisans  of  Pompey  hinted  the  necessity  of  naming  a  dic- 
tator. He  himself  affected  great  reserve,  in  expectation 
that  when  the  present  troubles  came  to  their  height,  the 
powers  necessary  to  suppress  them  would,  by  general  con- 
sent, be  pressed  into  his  hands. 

In  the  mean  time,  Cesar,  whose  councils  had  so  great  a 
share  in  determining  these  events,  was  detained  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Gaul,  and  was  obliged,  contrary  to  his 
usual  practice,  to  pass  the  whole  winter  on  this  side  of  the 
Alps.  On  his  return  from  Britain,  finding  that  the  harvest 
in  Gaul  had  been  unfavourable,  he  extended  his  quarters, 
which  reached  from  the  Seine  to  the  Meuse,  about  Maes- 
tricht,  and  from  the  sea  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Treves. 
The  distance  at  which  the  posts  were  placed -from  each 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  33l 

other  being1  observed  by  the  natives,  who  still  bore  with 
impatience  the  intrusion  and  usurpation  of  these  strangers, 
tempted  them  to  form  a  design  against  each  of  these  quar- 
ters apart,  and  by  cutting  tiiem  oft',  to  rid  their  country  for 
ever  of  these  imperious  and  insatiable  guests. 

In  execution  of  this  design,  Ambiorix,  leader  of  the  nations 
which  were  situated  in  the  angle,  above  the  confluence  of 
the  Meuse  and  the  Rhine,  and  round  the  quarters  of  Sabi- 
nus,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  at  a  place  which  is 
now  called  Tongres,  suddenly  presented  himself  with  a 
numerous  body  before  the  Roman  station,  and  endeavoured 
to  force  the  intrenchment ;  but  being  repulsed,  had  recourse 
to  an  artifice  in  which  he  succeeded.  Affecting  a  great 
regard  for  the  Romans,  he  pretended  to  disclose,  with  the 
utmost  regret,  a  secret  design  formed  by  the  Gauls  to  cut 
off  the  Roman  army ;  gave  notice  that  a  great  body  of 
Germans  had  already  passed  the  Rhine  to  join  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  design ;  that  he  himself  had  been  very  much 
averse  to  the  project ;  but  had  been  obliged  to  give  way  to 
the  impetuosity  of  his  countrymen,  which  he  could  not  re- 
sist ;  that  all  he  could  do  was  to  warn  the  Romans  of  their 
danger,  to  the  end  that  they  might  withdraw,  and  gain  the 
nearest  station  of  their  own  people,  while  he  had  influence 
enough  to  hinder  their  being  molested  on  the  march. 

This  admonition  determined  Sabinus  to  quit  his  present 
situation.  lie  accordingly  began  a  march  of  fifty  miles  to- 
wards the  quarters  of  Quintus  Cicero,  and  falling  into  a 
snare,  which  the  treacherous  chieftain  had  laid  for  him, 
perished,  with  an  entire  legion  and  five  cohorts,  of  whom 
the  greater  part  were  put  to  the  sword.  Some  got  back  to 
the  station  they  had  left,  but  finding  no  security  in  that 
place,  killed  themselves  in  despair.  A  very  few  escaped, 
by  the  woods,  to  Labienus  on  the  Moselle. 

The  natives,  thus  encouraged,  pushed  on  to  the  quarters 
of  Quintus  Cicero,  armed  and  assembled  the  country  as  they 
passed,  and  arrived  with  such  expedition,  that  they  inter- 
cepted all  the  parties  which  were  abroad  in  search  of  wood, 
provisions,  or  forage,  and  made  so  unexpected  an  attack  on 
the  Roman  station,  as  left  Cicero  scarcely  time  sufficient  to 
man  his  intrenchraents.  The  enemy  being  about  sixty 
thousand  men,  formed  a  circle,  facing  to  the  centre,  quit* 
round  the  Roman  intrcnchment ;  and,  the  more  effectually 
to  cut  off  all  communication  of  supplies  or  intelligence  from 
without,  effected  a  lino  of  circumvallation,  consisting  of  a 
ditch  and  a  breastwork  extending  over  a  circumference  of 
fifteen  miles.  From  this  line  thoy  made  regular  approaches 
to  the  Roman  intrenchmei)*'  A  having  pushed  their  tur- 


332  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

rets  quite  up  to  the  ditch,  threw,  by  means  of  their  slings, 
red-hot  bullets  and  burning  darts  into  the  thatch  with 
which  the  huts  of  the  camp  were  covered;  set  them  on 
fire;  and,  in  the  mid -it  of  the  confusion  which  arose  from 
this  circumstance,  endeavoured  to  scale  the  palisade  and 
the  parapet. 

While  Cicero  continued,  with  great  ability  and  courage, 
to  withstand  these  attacks,  the  intelligence  was  carried  to 
the  headquarters  of  the  Roman  array  :  and  Cesar,  as  usual, 
trusting  more  to  despatch  and  rapid  execution  than  to  the 
numbers  of  his  men,  left  a  legion  at  Samarobriva*  to  guard 
his  stores,  magazines,  and  baggage,  and  with  two  other 
legions,  not  exceeding  seven  thousand  men,  being  all  that, 
without  hazarding  an  improper  delay,  he  could  assemble, 
hastened  his  march  to  the  quarters  of  Cicero. 

When  the  fire  and  smoke  of  Cesar's  camp  began  to  appear 
on  the  plain,  and  gave  both  parties  equal  intimation  of  his 
coming,  the  Gauls  got  in  motion  with  all  their  force,  and 
having  abandoned  their  lines  of  circutnvallation,  advanced 
to  meet  him.  Cicero  sent  him  intelligence  of  this  move- 
ment of  the  enemy.  The  armies  arrived  nearly  at  the 
same  time  on  the  opposite  sides  of  a  brook  running  in  a 
hollow  track  between  steep  banks,  which  neither  party  in 
the  presence  of  the  other  would  venture  to  pass. 
*  Cesar,  supposing  that  the  great  inequality  of  his  numbers 
might  inspire  the  Gauls  with  contempt,  endeavoured,  by 
exceeding  his  usual  caution,  to  feed  their  presumption. 
The  event  justified  Cesar  in  his  expectation.  The  Gauls, 
trusting  to  the  superiority  of  their  numbers,  thought  they 
had  nothing  to  dread  but  the  escape  of  their  enemy ;  and 
they  accordingly  passed  the  rivulet,  with  intention  to  force 
an  encampment  which  he  had  formed.  Instead  of  defending 
it,  he  poured  forth  his  army  at  once  from  all  its  avenues, 
and,  with  the  advantage  of  a  surprise  upon  those  who  came 
to  attack  him,  and  by  the  great  superiority  of  the  Romans» 
when  mixed  sword  in  hand  with  an  enemy,  routed,  dis- 
persed, or  forced  to  lay  down  their  arms,  the  greater  part 
of  this  multitude. 

By  this  victory  Cesar,  not  only  relieved  Quintus  Cicero, 
whom  he  joined  the  same  evening,  but  likewise  dispelled 
the  cloud  which  hung  over  the  other  quarters  of  his  army. 
These  insurrections,  however,  so  much  disconcerted  the 
plan  which  he  had  formed  for  the  winter,  that  he  was  hin- 
dered from  making  his  usual  journey  across  the  Alps. 

Daring  this  stay  in  Gaul,  the  civil  government  in  the 


(H.  II.J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  853 

City  was  hastening  fast  to  its  rum,  and  the  longest  sword 
was  soon  b'kely  to  decide  th«  sovereignty  of  the  empire. 
The  occasion  seemed  ripe  for  the  execution  of  Pompey'a 
design;  and  accordingly  another  tribune,  Lucceius  Hirrus, 
known  to  be  in  the  secret  of  Pompey's  intrigues,  moved 
that  he  should  be  named  dictator.  This  motion  appeared 
to  be  extremely  disagreeable  to  all  the  principal  members 
of  the  senate.  Pompey  therefore  thought  proper  to  dis- 
claim it,  denied  his  having  encouraged  the  tribune  to  make 
it,  and  even  refused  to  accept  of  the  dictatorship  ;  adding, 
that  he  had  been  called  to  the  exercise  of  great  powers 
earlier  than  he  himself  had  expected ;  and  that  he  had 
always  resigned  his  powers  earlier  than  had  been  ex- 
pected by  any  one  else.  Cato  pronounced  an  encomium 
on  this  act  of  moderation,  recommended  the  republic  tojris 
care,  and  encouraged  him  in  the  resolution  he  had  taken, 
to  prefer  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens  even  to  the 
power  of  disposing  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  at  his  plea- 
sure. Pompey  from  thenceforward  joined  with  the  senate 
in  bringing  on  the  elections  ;  and  accordingly,  after  seven 
months'  interval  of  contusion  and  anxiety,  Cn.  Domitius 
Calvinus  and  M.  Valerius  Messala  were  chosen  and  entered 
on  office  in  the  month  of  July.* 

Cesar  having,  in  the  course  of  this  winter,  called  the 
nations  of  Gaul  to  a  general  convention  at  an  island  in  the 
Seine,t  he  began  the  operations  of  the  following  summer 
by  punishing  some  of  the  cantons,}  who  had  absented  them- 
selves from  that  assembly,  and  who,  by  this  act  of  disre- 
spect, had  incurred  his  resentment,  or  given  him  suspicion 
of  hostile  intentions.  The  principal  object  of  the  campaign, 
however,  was  the  punishment  of  AmBiorix  and  his  country- 
men, by  whom,  as  has  been  related,  Sabinus,  with  a  legion 
and  five  cohorts,  had  been  circumvented  and  cut  off  in  the 
beginning  of  the  preceding  winter. 

As  the  Romans  scarcely  appear  to  have  conceived  that 
any  people  had  a  right  to  withstand  their  invasions,  and 
treated  as  rebellion  every  attempt  a  nation  once  vanquished 
ihade  to  recover  its  liberties,  Cesar  states  it  as  nece-^;iry 
for  the  credit  of  the  Roman  army,  for  the  security  of  their 
quarters,  and  for  preventing  such  acts  of  perfidy  for  the 
future,  that  the  subjects  of  Ambiorix  should  suffer  an 
exemplary  punishment.  To  si-cure  this  effect,  he  pro- 
jected two  expeditions;  one  to  th"  ri-lit  ami  the  other  to 
the  left  of  this  enemy's  country,  with  intention  to  preclude 
them  from  any  retreat  or  a>si-U.;mce  on  either  side.  He 

U.  C.  700.        t  Now  Paris.        J  The  Senones  and  Carnutei. 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

« 

penetrated  into  the  woods  and  marshes  of  Brabant,  or  the 
low  grounds  on  the  left  of  the  Meuse,  and  obliged  the  in- 
habitants to  come  under  engagements  not  to  assist  or  har- 
bour his  enemies. 

From  thence,  still  avoiding  to  give  any  alarm  to  the 
nation  which  was  the  principal  object  of  these  operations, 
he  advanced  by  quick  and  silent  marches  into  the  countries 
between  the  Rhine  and  the  Mouse.  Hitherto  Ambiorix  and 
his  countrymen,  who  were  the  principal  objects  of  all  these 
operations,  had  taken  no  alarm,  and  had  enjoyed  such  per- 
fect security,  that  the  leader  himself,  upon  the  arrival  of 
Cesar's  horse,  narrowly  escaped,  and  had  no  more  than 
time,  by  a  general  intimation,  to  warn  his  people  to  con- 
sult their  own  safety.  They  accordingly  separated,  part  hid 
themselves  in  the  contiguous  marshes,  others  endeavoured 
to  find  refuge  with  some  neighbouring  nations,  or  fled  to 
the  islands  that  were  formed  at  the  confluence  of  the  Meuse 
and  the  Rhine. 

Cesar,  as  if  he  had  beeii  forming  a  party  of  hunters,  sep- 
arated his  army  into  three  divisions ;  sent  Labienus  with 
one  division  to  pursue  those  who  had  fled  to  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  two  rivers  ;  Tribonius  with  the  second  up  the 
course  of  the  Meuse ;  and  he  himself,  in  pursuit  of  Ambi- 
orix, directed  his  march  to  the  Scheld.  His  orders  were, 
that  each  division  should  put  all  they  met  to  the  sword, 
and  calculate  their  time  so  as  to  return  to  the  place  of  gen- 
eral rendezvous  in  seven  days. 

Cesar  having  made  an  example,  which  he  supposed  was 
to  overawe  all  the  nations  of  that  neighbourhood,  and  sta- 
tioned two  of  his  legions  on  the  Moselle,  and  the  remainder 
on  the  Marne,  on  the  Seine,  and  the  Loire,  he  himself  hast- 
ened into  Italy,  where  all  his  views  and  preparations  ulti- 
mately centred.  The  scene  of  political  intrigue,  in  which 
Crassus  had  hitherto  borne  a  part  with  Pompey  and  himself, 
was  now,  in  consequence  of  recent  events  on  the  other 
extremity  of  the  empire,  about  to  undergo  a  great  change, 
that  was  likely  to  atf'ect  the  conduct  of  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned. 

In  the  spring,  Crassus  had  taken  the  field  on  the  frontier 
of  Syria,  with  seven  legions,  four  thousand  horse,  and  an 
equal  number  of  light  or  irregular  troops.  With  this  force 
he  passed  the  Euphrates,  was  joined  by  an  Arabian  chief- 
tain, mentioned  by  historians  under  the  different  names 
of  Acbarus  or  Ariamnes,  and  expected  likewise  to  have 
been  joined  by  Artabazus,  king  of  Armenia;  but  Orodes, 
now  on  the  throne  of  the  Parthians,  prevented  this  junc- 
tion, by  invading  the  kingdom  of  Armenia  in  person,  while 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  335 

he  left  Surona,  a  young  warrior  of  groat  reputation,  in 
Mesopotamia,  to  oppose  the  Romans. 

Crassus  intended  to  have  followed  the  course  of  the 
Euphrates  to  where  it  approaches  nearest  to  Seleucia  and 
Ctesiphon,  the  capital  of  the  Parthian  kingdom ;  but  was 
dissuaded  by  Ariamnes,  who  prevailed  on  him  to  direct  his 
march  eastward  on  the  plains  to  meet  Surena,  as  not  in  a 
condition  to  oppose  him.  Some  parties  too,  thf»t  were 
advanced  to  examine  the  country,  reported  that  they  had 
been  on  the  tract  of  departing-  cavalry,  but  that  no  enemy 
was  any  where  to  be  seen.  Thus  Crassus  was  induced  tt> 
quit  the  Euphrates,  and  agreeably  to  the  directions  of  his 
guide,  took  the  route  of  Carrae  eastward.  From  thence,  in 
a  few  marches,  he  arrived  in  sandy  and  barren  plains,  with- 
out trees,  herbage,  or  water.  While  the  army,  though  dis- 
couraged by  these  appearances,  still  continued  its  march,  a 
few  horsemen  belonging  to  the  advanced  guard  returned 
to  the  main  body  with  signs  of  terror,  and  brought  an  ac- 
count that  their  division  had  been  surrounded  by  numerous 
bodies  of  horse,  and  to  a  few  cut  oft';  that  the  enemy  were 
advancing  apace,  and  must  soon  appear.  Crassus  fearing 
to  be  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  formed  a  square,  having 
his  cavalry  on  the  angles. 

The  Roman  army  being  thus  compacted,  the  Partisans 
appeared  on  every  side,  came  within  reach  of  an  arrow 
shot,  and  galled  them  without  intermission.  The  weapons 
of  the  Romans  in  this  situation  availed  them  nothing ;  even 
the  shield  could  not  cover  them  from  arrows,  that  showered 
from  every  quarter,  and  in  many  different  directions.  They 
stood  however  in  their  place  with  some  degree  of  courage, 
in  hopes  that  the  quivers  of  the  Parthians  must  soon  be 
exhausted,  and  that  this  enemy  would  be  obliged  either  to 
Join  them  in  close  fight,  or  to  retire.  But  they  found  them- 
selves deceived  in  this  expectation,  observing  that  the 
enemy  had  a  herd  of  camels  in  their  rear,  loaded  with 
arrows,  and  that  the  quivers  of  those  in  the  front  were  con- 
tinually replenished  from  thence.  At  the  same  time  Ari- 
%mnes,  the  Arabian,  deserted,  and  was  perceived  to  go  over 
to  the  enemy.  The  desertion  of  this  traitor,  completed  the 
general  discouragement  which  the  Romans  had  already 
begun  to  feel.  They  crowded  together  in  despair,  and 
oppressed  with  heat  and  thirst,  or  stilled  with  dust,  they 
continued  for  a  while,  like  beasts  caught  in  a  snare,  to  pre- 
sent an  ea^y  prey  to  their  enemies. 

In  this  extremity,  Crassus  ordered  his  son  Publius  to  form 
the  Roman  horse  into  one  body,  and  make  a  general 
charge.  The  young  man  advanced  with  great  impetuosity 


336  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

against  a  flying  enemy,  and  in  hopes  of  completing  his  vic- 
tory :  but  the  Parthians,  under  cover  of  the  dust  which 
everywhere  arose,  instead  of  flying  before  him,  as  he  sup- 
posed, were  actually  turning  on  bis  flanks,  and  even  falling 
behind  him  to  encompass  his  rear.  The  legions  at  the  same 
time,  happy  to  be  relieved  from  the  attack  of  the  enemy, 
quitted  their  ground,  and  for  a  little  resumed  their  march, 
but  the  father,  recollecting  the  danger  to  which  he  exposed 
his  son,  again  prevailed  on  them  to  halt.  In  this  situation, 
a  few  of  the  horse  arrived,  with  accounts  that  they  had 
been  surrounded,  that  Crassus,  the  son,  was  slain,  and  the 
whole  cavalry  cut  oft',  except  a  few  who  escaped  to  the 
father  with  these  melancholy  tidings. 

Night,  however,  was  fast  approaching,  and  the  Parthi- 
ans, on  a  sudden,  withdrew,  sensible  that  their  way  of 
fighting  would  expose  them  to  many  disadvantages  in  the 
dark.     It  was  always  their  practice  to  retire  at  night  to  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  enemy  whom  they  had  haras- 
sed by  day,  and  upon  these  occasions  they  g<>n orally  fled 
like  an  army  defeated,  until  they  had  removed  ><>  far  as  to 
make  it  safe  for  them  to  pasture  their  horses,  and  to  store 
up  their  arms.     Crassus,  apprised  of  this  practice,  took  the 
benefit  of  the  night  to  continue  his  retreat,  and  abandoning 
the  sick  and  wounded  of  his  army,  made  a  considerable 
march  before  it  was  day.     But  the  advance  he  had  gained 
was  not  sufficient  to  hinder  his  being  overtaken  by  the 
same  enemy,  and  again  involved  in  the  same  distress.  Hav- 
ing his  defeats  and  his  flights  renewed  on  every  succeed- 
iag  day,  he  arrived  at  last  at  the  post  which  he  had  fortified 
at  Carrae,  and  there  found  some  respite  from  the  attacks 
of  the  enemy.     At  this  place,  however,  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  make  any  considerable  stay,  as  the  whole  provi- 
sions of  the  army  were  lost  or  consumed,  and  such  supplies 
as  the  country  around  might  have  furnished,  were  entirely 
in  the  power  of  the  enemy.    Here   the  army  mutinied 
against  Crassus,  and  offered  the  command  to  Caius  Cas- 
sius ;  but  he,  although  desired  even  by  Crassus  himself, 
declined  to  accept  of  it.    The  troops  of  consequence  no 
longer  obeyed  any  command,  and   separated   into   two 
bodies.   The  first  went  off  by  the  plains  on  the  nearest  way 
into  Syria:  the  other  took  the  route  of  the  mountains ;  and 
.f  they  could  reach  them  before  the  enemy,  hoped  to  escape 
into  Cappadocia  or  Armenia.     The  first  division  was  ac- 
companied or  commanded  by  Cassius,  who,  though  with 
considerable  loss,  led  them  back  to  Syria.    The  other,  with 
Crassus  himself,  was  pursued  by  Surena,  and  harassed  on 
every  ground  where  the  Parthian  horse  could  ply  on  their 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  33? 

flank  or  their  rear.  Being  exposed  to  frequent  losses,  they 
suffered  a  continual  diminution  of  their  numbers. 

Surena,  apprehending  that  these  remains  of  the  Roman 
army  might  gain  the  mountains  before  he  could  force  them 
to  surrender,  sent  a  deputation  to  Crassus,  proposing  a  con- 
ference, Crassus,  pressed  to  it  by  his  troops,  put  himself, 
with  a  few  friends,  under  the  direction  of  Surena's  messen- 
gers, and  submitted  to  be  led  to  their  general ;  but  on  the 
way,  finding  himself  treated  as  a  prisoner,  he  refused  to 
proceed,  and  having  made  some  resistance,  was  slain.  The 
army  separated  into  sundry  divisions,  a  few  escaped  into 
Armenia  or  Syria,  the  greater  part  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands 

Thus  died  Crassus,  commonly  reputed  a  rare  instance  of 
ambition,  joined  with  avarice,  and  mean  capacity.  On 
account  of  his  wealth,  probably,  he  was  considered  by 
Cesar  and  Pompey  as  a  person,  who,  if  neglected  by  them, 
might  throw  a  weight  into  the  scale  of  their  enemies;  and 
he  was  admitted  into  their  councils,  as  a  person  fit  to  wit- 
ness their  transactions,  and  on  occasion  to  hold  the  balance 
in  suspense  between  them.  These  circumstances  placed 
him  among  the  competitors  for  the  principal  influence  at 
Rome,  and  makes  his  death  an  era  in  the  history  of  thoso 
factions  which  were  hastening  to  overwhelm  the  republic. 
By  this  event,  his  associates  Cesar  and  Pompey,  already 
disjoined  by  the  dissolution  of  their  family  connexion, 
were  left  to  contend  for  the  superiority,  without  any  third 
person  to  hold  this  species  of  balance  between  them. 

The  calm  which  had  succeeded  the  late  election  of  con- 
suls was  but  of  short  duration.  The  time  of  electing  their 
buccessors  was  fast  approaching,  and  the  candidates  Scipio, 
Milo,  and  Hipsfeus,  were  already  declared.  Clodius,  at  the 
same  time,  stood  for  the  office  of  pretor.  These  competi- 
tors, in  contending  for  the  streets  and  the  usual  places  of 
canvassing  the  people,  joined  to  the  former  arts  of  distribut- 
ing money,  and  of  exciting  popular  tumults,  the  use  of  an 
armed  force,  and  a  species  of  military  operations  in  the  city. 
Three  parties  in  arms  every  day  paraded  in  different  quar- 
ters of  the  town,  and  wherever  they  encountered,  violence 
•nd  bloodshed  generally  followed. 

These  disorders  so  long  obstructed  the  elections,  that  the 
term  of  the  present  consuls  in  offie*?  expired,  before  the  no- 
mination of  any  successors ;  and  every  legal  power  in  the 
commonwealth  being  suspended,  the  former  state  of  anar- 
chy, with  accumulated  distractions,  again  ensued.*  \Vh«n 

*  U.  C.  701. 


338  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

the  senate  proposed  to  have  recourse  to  the  remedy  usuat 
in  such  disorders  of  the  state,  by  naming-  an  interrex,  the 
only  title  under  which  any  person  could  preside  in  restor- 
ing- the  magistracy  by  an  election  of  consuls,  they  were 
forbid  by  the  tribune  Munatius  Plancus. 

During  the  confusion,  an  accident  happened  which 
brought  the  disorder  to  a  height,  and  forced  every  party  to 
accept  of  a  remedy.  On  the  20th  of  January,  Milo  going 
to  Lanuvium,  a  town  about  fifteen  miles  from  Rome,  of 
which  he  was  chief  magistrate,  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  met  with  Clodius  returning  from  his  country 
seat  at  Aricia.  Milo  was  in  a  carriage  with  his  wife 
Fausta,  the  daughter  of  Sylla,  and  a  friend  Fusius.  He  had 
a  numerous  escort,  amounting  to  some  hundreds  of  servants 
in  arms,  and,  in  particular,  was  attended  by  two  noted 
gladiators :  a  fray  ensued,  Clodius  endeavoured  to  quell  it, 
or  to  punish  the  authors  of  it ;  but  meeting  with  little  re- 
spect among  the  gladiators,  received  a  wound  in  the  shoul- 
der, and  was  carried  to  be  dressed  in  the  inn  at  Bovillae, 
near  to  which  place  the  disturbance  began.  Milo,  thinking 
it  safer  to  end  their  quarrels  there,  than  await  the  revenge 
of  an  enemy  thus  provoked,  who  would  not  fail,  at  the  head 
of  his  faction  in  the  city,  to  rouse  the  fury  of  the  populace 
against  him,  encouraged  his  people  to  pursue  their  advan- 
tage ;  they  accordingly  forced  their  Avay  into  the  inn,  drag- 
ged  Clodius  from  thence,  and  having  killed  him,  and  dis- 
persed all  his  followers,  left  him  dead  of  many  wounds  in 
the  highway. 

On  the  body  being  taken  to  Rome,  multitudes  crowded 
to  see  it.  The  crowd  continued  to  increase  till  Q.  Munatiua 
Plancus,  and  Q.  Pompeius  Rufus,  tribunes  of  the  people, 
gave  orders  to  carry  the  body  naked  to  the  market-place, 
and  there  to  leave  it  exposed  to  public  view  on  the  rostra  ; 
and  at  the  same  time  accompany  this  spectacle  with  in- 
flammatory harangues  to  the  people.  When  this  was  done, 
the  body  was  removed  to  the  .senate-house,  as  a  reproach 
to  the  order  of  senators  as  accessory  to  the  murder.  The 
populace,  who  still  followed  in  great  numbers,  burst  into  the 
place,  tore  up  the  benches,  and  brought  into  a  heap  the 
materials,  with  the  tables  and  desks  of  the  clerks,  the  jour- 
nals and  records  of  the  senate,  and  having  set  the  whole  on 
fire,  consumed  the  corpse  on  this  extraordinary  pile.  The 
fire  soon  reached  the  roof,  and  spread  to  the  contiguous  build- 
ings. The  senate-house,  the  Porcia  basilica,  and  other  edi- 
fices were  reduced  to  ashes.  The  mob  repaired  to  the  house 
of  M.  Lepidus,  who,  upon  the  first  alarm  of  an  insurrection, 
had  been  named  interrex,  forced  into  the  hall,  and  destroyed 


TH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  339 

every  thing  they  could  reach.  From  thence,  they  pro. 
ceeded  to  attack  the  house  of  Milo,  but  were  received  in 
such  a  manner  as  soon  obliged  them  to  withdraw. 

From  this  time,  for  some  days,  an  armed  populace,  mixed 
with  slaves,  continued,  under  pretence  of  searching  for 
Milo  and  his  adherents,  to  pillage  every  place  they  could 
enter.  A  succession  of  officers,  with  the  title  of  interrex, 
continued  to  be  named  at  the  expiration  of  every  usual 
term  of  five  days  ;  but  such  was  the  confusion  and  distrac- 
tion of  the  scene,  that  no  election  could  be  made.  The 
senate,  under  the  greatest  alarm,  gave  to  the  interrex,  and 
to  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  to  whom  they  joined  Pom- 
pey,  the  usual  charge  given  to  the  consuls,  to  watch  over 
the  safety  of  the  republic. 

The  partisans  of  Pompey,  in  the  midst  of  this  wild  and 
disorderly  state  of  affairs,  were  busy  in  renewing  the  cry 
which  they  had  raised  in  the  former  interregnum,  that  ln> 
dhould  be  named  dictator,  for  the  re-establishment  of  order, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  public  peace.  Such  an  extraor- 
dinary power  had  never  been  at  any  time  more  wanted  in 
the  republic ;  but  the  times,  in  which  it  might  be  safely 
applied,  were  no  more.  The  name  of  dictator  recalled  the 
memory  of  Sylla's  executions,  and  it  appeared  to  be  uncer- 
tain against  whom  they  might  now  be  directed.  To  avoid 
the  title  more  than  the  power  of  dictator,  Bibulus  moved  in 
the  senate,  that  all  the  present  candidates  for  the  consulate 
should  be  set  aside,  and  that  the  interrex  should  assemble 
the  people  for  the  election  of  Pompey  sole  consul. 

It  was  resolved,  in  terms  of  this  motion,  that  Pompey 
should  be  presented  to  the  people  as  sole  candidate  for  the 
office  of  consul,  and  that  after  two  months  were  elapsed, 
he  might  propose  any  other  candidate  to  be  joined  in  this 
office  with  himself.  The  election  was  accordingly  brought 
on  by  the  interrex  Servius  Sulpitius,  and  Pompey  declared 
sole  consul,  with  a  commission  from  the  senate  to  arm,  if 
ruvr-sary,  the  inhabitants  of  Italy,  for  the  better  establish- 
ment of  order  in  the  city. 

The  first  object  of  Pompey,  in  the  high  and  unprecedented 
dignity  which  was  now  conferred  upon  him,  appears  to 
have  been  the  framing  of  some  laws  to  restrain  for  the 
future  such  disorders  as  had  lately  prevailed,  and  to  bring 
criminals  to  justice.  For  this  purpose,  he  obtained  an  art 
to  enforce  the  laws  which  already  subsisted  against  vio- 
lence and  corruption  ;  and  to  regulate  the  form  of  proceed- 
ing in  trials  on  such  criminal  accusations. 

By  the  regulations  now  suggested  by  Pompey,  *»very 
trial  was  to  end  in  four  days.  Th«  examination  of  evidenc 


340  HISTORY  OF  TIIK  [B.  IV. 

might  occupy  the  three  first ;  the  hearing-  of  parties,  and 
the  judgment,  the  fourth.  The  prosecutor  was  allowed  two 
hours  to  support  his  charge,  and  the  defendant  three  hours 
to  make  his  defence.  The  number  of  advocates  was  re- 
stricted, and  the  use  of  commendatory  characters  prohibited. 
The  quesitor,  or  judge  criminal,  was  to  be  chosen  from 
among  those  who  had  held  the  office  of  consul,  and  eighty 
judges  or  jurors  were  to  be  impanneled,  and  obliged  to 
attend  the  trial.  After  the  evidence  and  pleadings  wer* 
heard,  the  parties  were  then  allowed  each  to  challenge  o 
reject  fifteen  of  the  jury  or  judges.  To  remedy  the  general 
corruption  at  elections,  a  clause  was  enacted  in  the  law  of 
Pompey,  by  which  any  person  formerly  convicted  of  brib- 
ery, might  obtain  a  remission  of  the  penalties  he  had  in- 
curred by  convicting  any  one  other  person  of  a  crime  equal, 
or  by  convicting  two  persons,  though  of  a  crime  less  hein- 
ous than  his  own. 

These  regulations  were  made  with  a  particular  view  to 
the  trial  of  Milo,  now  arraigned  on  the  statutes  both  of  cor- 
ruption, and  of  violence  or  assassination.  The  aristocrati- 
cal  or  senatorian  party  was  much  interested  in  his  preser- 
vation. The  argument,  in  equity,  indeed  was  strong  on  his 
side.*  During  the  late  suspension  of  government,  the  fac- 
tions were  rather  separate  parties  at  war,  than  subjects 
enjoying  the  protection,  and  amenable  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  any  civil  power  whatever.  They  who  procured  or  pro- 
longed this  state  of  anarchy,  were  alone  chargeable  with 
the  consequences.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  was  chosen 
commissioner  for  the  trial  of  Milo,  on  the  charge  of  mur- 
der ;  and  the  other  judges,  taken  from  among  the  most  re- 
spectable of  each  order  in  the  commonwealth,  were  im- 
panneled  in  terms  of  the  late  statute. 

The  court,  it  appears,  was  assembled  in  the  forum  or  opeij 
market-place.  At  the  opening  of  the  proceedings  such  a 
disturbance  arose  as  induced  Pompey  to  act  with  a  strong 
military  force,  and  several  lives  were  lost  in  clearing  the 
court.  Afterwards  witnesses  were  examined  for  two  days 
without  any  disturbance.  Among  these  the  inhabitants  of 
Bo villae,  the  family  and  relations  of  Clodius,  and  his  wife 
Fulvia,  were  examined  on  the  several  circumstances  that 
fell  within  their  knowledge,  and  left  no  doubt  remaining 
with  respect  to  the  fact.  The  minds  of  men  every  day 
became  more  intent  on  the  issue:  so  that,  on  the  fourth 
day,  when  the  parties  were  to  plead,  all  other  business  was 
suspended  in  the  city ;  the  shops  and  offices  were  shut 

There  appeared  for  the  prosecutors  A  ppius  Claudius,  M. 
Antonius,  and  Valerius  Nepos.  They  be#an  at  eight,  and 


CH.  111.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  341 

«poke  till  ten.  For  the  defender  appeared  Q.  Hortensius, 
M.  Marcellus,  M.  Calidius,  Faustus  Sylla,  M.  Cato,  and  M. 
T.  Cicero,  of  whom  the  last  only  attempted  to  speak.  It  is 
remarked  of  this  celebrated  orator,  that  he  began  all  his 
orations  under  considerable  solicitude  and  awe  of  his  audi- 
ence. On  this  occasion,  when  he  stood  up  to  speak,  the 
partisans  of  Clodius,  who  were  likewise  inveterate  enemies 
to  himself,  endeavoured  to  disconcert  him  with  clamours 
and  menacing-  cries.  The  unusual  sight  of  military  guards, 
commanded  by  an  officer,  who  was  supposed  to  be  preju- 
diced against  his  client,  it  is  said,  so  far  overcame  and  sank 
his  spirit,  that  he  spoke  feebly,  and  concluded  abruptly ;  and 
that  what  he  actually  delivered  was  far  short  of  that  mas- 
terly  oration  which  he  composed,  and  afterwards  published 
under  the  title  of  Milo's  defence. 

The  accused,  however,  even  in  this  alarming  scene,  stood 
at  the  bar  with  an  undaunted  countenance;  and  while 
every  one  else,  in  imitation  of  ttie  senators,  appeared  in 
mourning,  he  alone  appeared  in  an  ordinary  dress.  \Vheu 
judgment  was  given,  and  the  ballots  inspected,  it  appeared 
that  he  was  condemned  by  thirty-eight,  against  thirteen. 
Before  sentence  was  pronounced,  being  still  at  liberty  to 
withdraw,  he  retired  into  exile,  and  fixed  his  residence  at 
Marseilles. 


Character  of  Pompey  in  capacity  of  sole  Connil  -  Pnrhege  oj  Ctiar  to  & 
admitted  at  Candidate  for  the  Ojfice  of  Connil,  urithout  rerigning  hit 
Province  -  General  Revolt  oj  the  Gault  -  Operation*  in  that  Country- 
blockade  and  Reduction  of  Alesia-Dittribution  of  Cetar't  Arm]/  in 
Gaul. 

POMPEY  in  his  dignity  of  sole  consul,  having  joined  a  legal 
authority  to  the  personal  elevation  which  he  always  af- 
fected, possessed  much  of  the  influence  and  consideration 
of  a  real  monarch  ;  and  it  would  have  been  happy,  perhaps, 
for  the  state,  if  he  could  havo  made  such  a  dignity  heredi- 
lary,  and  a  permanent  part  of  the  constitution,  or  given  to 
the  commonwealth  that  reasonable  mixture  of  kingly  go- 
vernment, of  which  it  appears  to  have  stood  so  greatly  in 
need.  In  his  present  elevation  he  rose  for  a  while  above 
the  partialities  of  a  factious  leader,  and  appeared  to  adopt 
that  interest  which  the  sovereign  ever  has  in  the  support  «f 
justice.  He  even  seems  to  have  personated  the  character 
E  E 


342  HISTORY  Of  1  HE  Ln.  i*r. 

of  a  prince,  or  to  have  considered  himself  as  above  the  rank 
of  a  citizen. 

Besides  the  measures  taken  to  punish  past  offences,  it 
was  thought  necessary  to  devise  some  laws  to  prevent  for 
the  future,  or  to  lessen  the  temptation  to  the  commission  of 
such  dangerous  crimes.  The  principal  source  of  the  late 
disorders  appeared  to  be  the  avidity  of  candidates  for  those 
offices  of  state,  which  led  immediately  to  the  government 
of  lucrative  provinces.  To  remove  this  temptation,  it  was 
ordained,  at  the  suggestion  of  Pompey,  that  no  man  could 
be  appointed  to  a  province  till  five  years  after  the  expira- 
tion of  that  office,  whether  of  consul,  pretor,  or  questor,  in 
virtue  of  which  he  claimed  a  proportionate  station  in  the 
provinces. 

Before  the  enacting-  of  this  law,  however,  Pompey  had 
the  address  to  procure  for  himself  a  prolongation  of  his 
government  in  Spain  for  five  years.  It  had  been  wisely 
ordained  by  the  laws,  that  the  persons  offering  themselves 
as  candidates  for  the  office  of  consul,  should  appear  in  per- 
son to  sue  for  it ;  and  that  no  man,  without  resigning  his 
command  and  dismissing  his  army,  could  enter  the  city,  or 
even  go  beyond  the  limits  of  the  province  in  which  he  had 
governed.  Pompey,  however,  though  vested  with  such  a 
command  in  Spain,  had  contrived  to  be  exempted  from  the 
observance  of  this  law ;  and,  under  pretence  that  his  office 
of  general  purveyor  of  corn  for  the  Roman  people  did  not 
confine  him  to  any  station,  and  in  reality  extended  to  the 
whole  empire,  or  had  a  particular  reference  to  Italy,  still 
continued  to  reside  in  the  city  of  Rome. 

Cesar,  to  keep  pace  with  his  rival,  openly  aspired  to  the 
same  privilege  with  Pompey,  and  instructed  his  partisans 
among  the  tribunes  to  move,  that,  being  continually  en- 
gaged in  a  hazardous  war,  which  required  his  presence,  pnd 
being  necessarily  detained  abroad  in  the  service  of  his  coun- 
try, he  might  be  exempted  from  the  law,  which  required 
the  candidates  for  office  to  attend  their  canvass  in  person, 
and  might  therefore  be  elected  into  the  consulate  without 
presenting  himself  to  the  people  for  that  purpose. 

This  proposition  was  sufficiently  understood  by  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  senate,  and  by  the  few  who  joined  with 
them  in  support  of  the  commonwealth.  Cicero,  as  well  as 
Pompey,  supported  the  tribunes  in  their  motion,  and  ob- 
tained for  the  proconsul  of  Gaul  the  dispensation  he  desired, 
to  retairf  his  army,  while  he  offered  himself  a  candidate  for 
the  highest  office  of  the  state  at  Rome.  Cesar  contented 
for  the  present  with  the  privilege  he  had  obtained,  Jeft  the 
state,  as  before,  apparently  in  the  hands  of  Pompey ;  and. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  343 

in  the  middle  of  whiter,  on  the  report  of  a  general  defection 
of  all  the  Gaulish  nations,  repassed  the  Alps. 

Most  of  the  nations  that  lay  beyond  the  mountains  of 
Auvergne,  the  original  limits  of  the  Roman  province, 
roused  by  the  sense  of  their  present  condition,  or  by  the 
cruel  massacre  lately  executed  in  a  part  of  their  country, 
were  actually  in  arms.  The  occasion,  they  said,  was  fa- 
vourable for  the  recovery  of  their  country.  The  Romans 
*rere  distracted  at  home,  and  Cesar  had  sufficient  occupa- 
tion in  Italy.  The  present  time,  they  concluded,  was  the 
favourable  opportunity  to  shut  out  the  Romans  for  ever 
beyond  the  Cevennes,  or  even  to  force  them  to  retire  with- 
in the  Alps. 

The  people  of  the  Carnutes*  undertook  to  begin  hostili- 
ties ;  and  accordingly,  on  a  day  fixed,  surprised  the  town 
of  Genabura.t  where  they  put  many  Roman  traders,  to- 
gether with  the  commissary  general  of  the  army,  to  death. 
It  was  the  custom  of  the  Gauls  to  convey  intimation  of 
such  events  by  means  of  a  cry  which  they  raised  at  the 
place  of  action,  and  repeated  wherever  the  voice  was  heard, 
till  passing  almost  with  the  velocity  of  sound  itself,  it  gave 
the  speediest  information  of  what  was  done.  In  this  man- 
ner intelligence  of  what  had  been  transacted  at  Genabum 
at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  was,  before  night,  propagated  in 
every  direction  to  the  distance  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
and  put  all  the  nations  within  this  compass  in  a  ferment. 
Its  first  and  principal  effects,  however,  were  produced  in 
the  country  of  the  Arverni.X  Here  Vercingetorix,  a  youth 
of  heroic  spirit  and  great  capacity,  assembled  his  retainers, 
took  possession  of  Gergovia,  now  Clermont,  the  capital  of 
his  country,  and  from  thence  sent  messengers  in  every 
direction  to  urge  the  execution  of  the  measure  lately  con- 
certed for  the  general  freedom  of  Gaul.  He  himself,  in 
return  for  his  zeal,  being  chosen  the  common  head  of  the 
confederacy,  in  this  capacity,  fixed  the  quota  of  men  and  of 
arms  to  be  furnished  by  each  separate  canton,  and  fixed  the 
time  and  place  of  muster. 

Vercingetorix  having  assembled  a  considerable  army, 
sent  a  part  of  his  force  to  act  on  the  Garonne,  and  to  haras-* 
the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  province,  while  he  himself 
moved  to  the  Loire,  and  brought  to  his  standard  all  the 
warriors  of  those  cantons  that  lay  on  the  left  of  that  river. 
His  party  on  the  Garonne,  at  the  same  time,  were  joined  by 
all  the  nations  of  Aquitania,  and,  in  formidable  numbers, 
threatened  with  immediate  destruction  the  cities  of  Tou- 

*  Ch»rtre«.  t  Orltans.  i  AurerftM. 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

louse  and  Narbonne,  or  such  part  of  their  districts  at  least 
as  were  open  to  invasion. 

Thither  Cesar,  with  all  the  forces  he  could  assemble  upon 
his  arrival  from  Italy,  immediately  repaired  ;  and  having 
pat  the  province  of  Narbonne  in  a  condition  not  to  be  in- 
sulted, proceeded  to  give  the  enemy  an  alarm  in  their  o\vu 
country.  Having  entered  Auvergne  he  sent  his  cavalry 
abrdad  in  numerous  parties  to  destroy  with  fire  and  sword 
the  people,  with  their  habitations  and  possessions.  When 
he  thought  the  alarm  was  sufficiently  spread,  and  must  have 
reached  the  Gaulish  army  on  the  Loire,  and  drawn  them  to 
ftiat  quarter  of  the  country,  he  pretended  that  his  presence 
was  required  in  the  province  behind  him,  gave  the  command 
of  the  troops  in  Auvergne  to  Decimus  Brutus,  then  ayonng 
man  ;  giving  him  orders  at  the  same  time  to  keep  his  parties 
abroad,  and  to  continue  to  harass  the  country  as  he  himself 
had  done. 

Having  taken  these  measures  to  fix  the  attention  of  the 
enemy  in  one  quarter,  Cesar,  with  a  few  attendants,  passed 
by  Bibracte,*  and  the  country  of  the  Lingones,t  to  the 
nearest  quarter  of  his  army  on  the  Seine,  and  while  he  was 
yet  supposed  to  be  in  Auvergne,  had  actually  assembled  his 
legions  which  had  been  distributed  on  the  course  of  that 
river. 

Vercingetorix  having  notice  that  the  Roman  army  on 
the  Seine  was  in  motion,  perceived  that  the  invasion  of 
his  own  country  had  been  no  more  than  a  feint,  and  re 
cumed  the  operations  which  he  had  intermitted  on  the  Loire. 

Cesar,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty  of  procuring  pro- 
visions and  forage  so  early  in  the  season,  thought  him- 
self under  a  necessity  of  opposing  the  progress  of  the 
enemy.  For  this  purpose  he  left  his  baggage,  under  the 
guard  of  two  legions,  at  Agendicum  ;J  and  from  thence, 
with  the  remainder  of  the  army,  proceeded  to  Genabum  $ 
Upon  his  arrival  there  the  Gauls  resolved  to  abandon  the 
town ;  but  Cesar,  having  notice  of  their  design,  forced 
open  their  gates,  put  the  greater  part  to  the  sword,  and, 
under  the  pretence  of  revenging  the  massacre  of  the  Roman 
traders,  who  had  been  cut  off  at  this  place,  ordered  that 
the  town  should  be  destroyed.  From  thence  he  penetrated 
into  the  country  of  the  Bituriges,||  on  the  left  of  the  Loire ; 
find,  on  his  way  towards  Avaricum.lT  the  capital  «F  that 
district,  forced  every  place  that  opposed  his  passage. 

Vercingetorix,    observing  the    rapid    progress    o»    th« 

*  Afterwards  Augustodunum,  now  Autun.  t  Lanrni. 

J  Sens,  |  Orleans.  \\  Now  Herri. 


«tr    III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  345 

Romans,  and  knowing1  that  the  Gauls,  being-  without  order 
or  discipline,  could  not  withstand  them  in  battle,  declined 
an  engagement,  but  endeavoured  to  distress  the  enemy  by- 
delays  mid  want  of  provisions.  He  had  authority  enough 
with  his  own  people  to  persuade  them  to  lay  their  country 
waste  every  where  within  many  miles  of  Cedar's  route. 
Twenty  towns  of  the  Bituriges  were  burned  in  one  day. 
Avaricum  alone,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Vercingetorix, 
ninl  at  the  earnest  request  of  its  inhabitants,  who  undertook 
to  defend  it  to  the  last  extremity,  was  spared. 

The  place  was  covered  on  two  sides  by  a  river  and  a 
morass,  and  was  accessible  only  on  the  third.  The  walls  of 
the  town  were  ingeniously  constructed  with  double  frames 
of  wood,  having  compartments  or  pannels  filled  up  with 
masonry  and  large  blocks  of  stone.  The  masonry  secured 
the  timber  from  fire,  and  the  frames  preserved  the  masonry 
against  the  effects  of  the  battering-  ram,  which  could  act 
only  on  the  stones  contained  within  a  single  pannel  or 
division  of  the  frame,  without  ruining  at  once  any  consider- 
able part  of  the  wall,  or  effecting  a  breach.  The  Roman 
army  approached  to  this  wall  by  the  most  laborious  and 
difficult  methods  which  were  practised ;  and  notwithstand- 
ing many  difficulties,  by  degrees  brought  forward  and  raised 
their  mound  of  approach  to  the  height  of  the  battlements  ; 
BO  that  by  a  single  assault  they  might  determine  the  fate  of 
the  town.  And  while  both  parties  were  preparing  for  a  last 
effort,  Cesar  took  the  opportunity,  as  he  frequently  did,  of  a 
heavy  rain  to  make  his  attack.  The  besieged,  as  he  sup- 
posed, had  taken  shelter  from  the  weather,  and  were  in  that 
instant  put  off'  their  guard.  He  got  possession  of  the  battlo- 
raents  with  little  resistance,  and  drove  the  parties  who 
manned  them  before  him  from  the  walls.  Thu  inhabitants 
formed  in  the  streets,  and  the  Romans  who  had  entered, 
extending  their  line  to  right  and  left  along  the  ramparts, 
were  about  to  occupy  the  battlements  over  the  whole  cir- 
cumference of  the  place,  when  the  garrison,  observing  their 
danger,  began  to  escape  by  the  gates.  In  the  confusion 
that  followed,  the  town  was  sacked,  and  could  make  no 
resistance.  Of  forty  thousand  persons  who  had  taken 
shelter  in  it,  no  more  than  eight  hundred  escaped.  This 
massacre  was  joined  to  that  lately  performed  at  Genabum, 
under  the  pretence  of  completing  the  vengeance  which  wa* 
(*v«  for  the  murder  of  the  Roman  traders  who  were  put  to 
death  at  the  breaking  out  pf  the  present  revolt. 

The  Gauls,  as  usual  on  every  calamitous  event,  were 
greatly  disheartened,  and  were  about  to  despair  of  their 
t  when  their  leader  reminded  them,  that,  contrary  to 


346  HISTORY  OF  THE  £B.  IV 

his  judgment,  they  had  reserved  this  place  from  the  general 
devastation,  and  had  themselves  undertaken  to  defend  it ; 
that  what  they  suffered  was  the  consequence  of  a  mistake, 
and  might  be  retrieved  by  abler  conduct.  His  authority  as 
usual  rose  on  the  ill  success  of  counsels  which  he  had  not 
approved,  and  brought  an  accession  of  numbers  to  his  stand- 
ard. 

Cesar,  finding  a  considerable  supply  of  stores  and  provi- 
sions at  Avaricum,  remained  some  days  to  relieve  and  to 
refresh  his  army.  The  country  around  him,  however,  being 
entirely  laid  waste,  or  occupied  by  parties  of  the  enemy,  he 
passed  to  the  right  of  the  Loire  and  made  a  demand  on  his 
allies  of  that  side  for  ten  thousand  men  on  foot,  and  all  tlw» 
horses  they  could  furnish. 

He  now  had  enemies  on  every  quarter,  and  it  was  good 
policy  to  keep  them  divided,  and  to  occupy  them  separately. 
For  this  purpose  he  sent  four  legions  towards  the  Seine  \ 
while  he  himself  took  the  route  of  Noviodunum,*  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Loire  and  Allier ;  and  there  leaving  his  money, 
spare  horses,  and  unnecessary  baggage,  he  continued  his 
march  on  the  banks  of  the  Allier,  with  intention  to  pass 
that  river,  and  to  invade  the  Arverni,  from  whom  this 
revolt  had  originated,  and  whose  chief  was  now  at  the  head 
of  it.  This  prince,  knowing  that  the  river  Allier  is  nevei 
fordable  till  autumn,  when  the  melting  of  the  snows  on  tlu> 
Cevennes  begin  to  abate,  ordered  all  the  bridges  upon  it  to 
be  demolished,  and  hoped  to  prevent  the  Romans  from  pass- 
ing it  during  the  greater  part  of  summer.  As  soon  as 
Cesar  marched  from  Noviodunum,  he  presented  himself  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  and  regulated  his  motions  by 
that  of  the  enemy. 

It  happened  that  one  of  the  bridges  of  the  Allier  had  been 
but  imperfectly  destroyed  ;  most  of  the  piles  were  yet  fast 
in  the  ground,  and  appeared  above  water ;  so  that  a  passage 
might  be  effected  in  a  few  hours.  The  country  around  was 
woody,  and  furnished  cover,  or  a  place  of  ambush,  to  any 
number  of  men.  From  these  circumstances  Cesar  over- 
reached the  enemy,  by  putting  his  army  in  motion  as  usual, 
bftt  himself  remaining  with  a  sufficient  detachment  in  th 
neighbourhood  of  the  ruined  bridge,  which  he  repaired. 
He  then  passed  with  a  division  of  the  army  he  had  reserved 
for  this  purpose,  and  instantly  fortified  a  post  to  cover  them 
ou  the  Apposite  bank.  From  thence  he  sent  orders  to  recall 
the  main  body ;  and  before  the  enemy  were  apprised  of  hii 
design,  had  reunited  all  his  forces  on  the  left  of  the  river. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  347 

Vercingetorix,  as  soon  as  he  had  intelligence  that  the 
Romans  liad  passed  the  Allier,  fell  back  to  Gergovia,*  the 
capital  of  his  own  principality,  in  order  to  take  measures 
for  the  safety  of  that  place.  It  being  situated  on  a  height, 
having  an  ascent  of  above  a  mile  from  the  plain,  and  sur- 
rounded by  other  hills,  which  made  part  of  the  same  ridge, 
he  fortified  it  and  encamped  on  the  hill.  Cesar  pitched  his 
camp  at  some  distance  from  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  foresaw 
that  all  the  heights  in  his  neighbourhood  being  in  possession 
of  the  enemy,  while  he  pressed  upon  the  town,  he  himself 
*night  be  hemmed  in,  and  cut  off'  from  all  the  supplies 
necessary  for  the  support  of  his  army.  To  preserve  his 
communication,  therefore,  with  the  Allier  and  the  Loire,  he 
ordered  his  allies  from  the  opposite  side  of  these  rivers  to 
advance  with  the  forces  he  had  formerly  required  of  them, 
to  occupy  the  country  in  his  rear,  and  to  cover  his  convoys. 
They  accordingly  took  the  field ;  but  their  leaders  having 
been  for  some  time  inclined  to  favour  the  general  cause  of 
the  Gauls,  they  thought  this  a  favourable  opportunity  to 
declare  their  intentions.  Being  arrived  within  thirty  miles 
of  Cesar's  army,  they  halted ;  and,  upon  a  report  which 
was  industriously  spread  amongst  them,  that  he  had 
murdered  some  of  their  countrymen  who  were  already  in 
iis  camp,  they  put  all  the  Romans  in  their  company  to 
death,  and  took  measures  to  join  their  countrymen  who 
were  assembled  for  the  defence  of  Gergovia.  They  had  not 
yet  moved  to  execute  this  resolution,  when  Cesar  had 
notice  of  what  was  intended,  and  with  his  usual  diligence 
arrived,  after  a  march  of  thirty  miles,  with  four  legions, 
and  all  his  cavalry,  in  time  to  prevent  its  effects.  He  pre- 
sented himself  as  a  friend ;  and  thinking  it  safest  for  the 
present  to  disguise  his  resentment,  he  produced  into  public 
view  all  the  persons  who  were  said  to  have  been  killed  by 
his  orders,  convinced  such  as  had  been  deceived  of  their 
error,  and  brought  them,  with  the  seeming  cordiality  of 
allies,  to  his  camp. 

Cesar  made  a  merit  with  the  JEdui  of  this  act  of  clemency 
towards  their  people ;  but  found  that  the  spirit  of  defection, 
had  pervaded  the  nation ;  that  the  violence  committed  iu 
the  camp  was  an  effect  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
whole  people ;  that,  in  pursuance  of  the  same  measures, 
his  purveyors  and  commissaries  hud  been  assaulted  and 
pillaged  even  where  they  thought  themselves  secure,  a->  in 
a  friend's  country  ;  and  that  he  could  no  longer  rely  on  the 
affections  of  any  nation  in  Gaul. 

*  Now  supposed  to  be  the  neighbourhood  of  ClermonU 


348  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

The  leaders  of  the  .flCdui,  however,  on  hearing  of  the 
jenity  that  was  shown  to  such  of  their  people  as  were  in 
the  power  of  Cesar,  pretended  to  return  to  their  duty ;  and 
Cesar  declared  himselt  willing  to  rely  on  the  wisdom  ot 
the  state  itself  for  the  reparation  of  wrongs  which  a  few  ill- 
advised  persons  of  their  country  had  committed, 

After  retiring  from  Gergovia,  the  besiegers  attempted 
to  force  a  wall,  which  the  Gauls  had  built  on  the  ascent  of 
the  hill  which  led  to  the  town ;  and  having  made  a  feint 
on  the  opposite  side  with  part  of  his  horse,  joined  by 
the  followers  of  the  army  mounted  on  horseback,  who 
showed  themselves  at  a  distance  like  cavalry,  Cesar  drew 
the  enemy  from  the  place  he  meant  to  attack,  actually 
passed  the  wall,  and  made  himself  master  of  part  of  their 
camp.  A  few  of  his  men  penetrated  even  into  the  town  ; 
but  not  being  supported  were  surrounded  and  slain ;  even 
those  who  had  succeeded  at  first  under  favour  of  the  feint 
by  which  he  had  drawn  off  the  enemy,  were,  upon  the  re- 
turn of  the  Gauls  to  the  defence  of  their  camp,  repulsed 
with  considerable  loss.  In  consequence  of  this  defeat,  it 
was  no  longer  doubtful  that  Cesar  would  be  under  the 
necessity  of  raising  the  siege. 

In  order  to  begin  his  retreat  without  any  appearance  of 
fear,  he  formed  his  army  two  days  successively  on  the  plain 
before  his  entrenchment,  and  offered  the  enemy  battle. 
On  the  third  day  he  decamped ;  and,  with  the  credit  he 
derived  from  this  species  of  defiance  or  challenge,  in  three 
days  he  arrived  at  the  Allier,  repaired  his  bridge,  and 
entered  the  country  on  the  right  of  the  Loire,  now  hos- 
tile. He  was  yet  inclosed  between  these  two  rivers, 
having  enemies  on  every  side,  and  no  magazines  or  stores 
for  the  supply  of  his  army.  He  deliberated  whether  he 
should  not  fall  back  on  the  province  of  Narbonne ;  but 
the  danger  to  which  he  must  expose  Labienus,  command- 
ing a  division  of  the  Roman  army  on  the  Seine,  the  diffi- 
culty of  passing  the  mountains  of  Auvergne,  then  occupied 
by  his  enemies,  and  the  discredit  which  his  arms  must  incur 
from  such  a  retreat,  prevented  him.  He  determined 
therefore  to  advance  :  passed  the  Loire  by  a  ford  above  its 
confluence  with  the  Allier  ;  found  a  considerable  supply  of 
provisions  and  forage  in  the  country  of  the  JEdui,  and  con- 
tinued his  march  from  thence  to  the  Seine. 

Labienus,  with  the  troops  he  commanded  in  that  quarter, 
had  besieged  Lutetia,  the  original  germ  from  which  the 
city  of  Paris  has  grown,  then  confined  to  a  small  island  in 
the  Seine,  and  had  made  some  progress  in  the  siege,  when 
he  heard  of  Cesar's  retreat  from  Gergovia,  of  the  defection 


CH.  111.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  349 

of  tho  JEdui,  and  of  preparations  which  were  making  bj 
the  nations  on  his  right  against  himself.  In  these  circum- 
stances, he  laid  aside  his  design  on  Lutetia,  and  effected  i 
junction  with  Cesar. 

While  the  Romans  were  thus  re-uniting  their  forces  oi 
the  Seine,  Vercingetorix  had  passed  the  Loire,  and  held  i 
general  convention  of  the  Gaulish  nations  at  Bibracte. 
He  was  attended  by  deputies  of  all  the  cantons  from  th« 
Moselle  to  the  Loire,  except  the  Treviri,  Remi,  and 
Lingones.* 

The  leader  of  the  Gaulish  confederacy  being  at  thia 
meeting  confirmed  in  his  command,  made  a  requisition  for 
an  augmentation  offeree,  chiefly  of  cavalry,  and  according- 
ly increased  this  part  of  his  army  to  fifteen  thousand. 
To  the  end  that  he  might  give  the  Romans  sufficient  oc- 
cupation in  their  own  defence,  he  projected  two  sepa- 
rate invasions  of  the  province  of  Narbonne :  one  to  be  ex- 
ecuted by  the  nations  which  lay  between  the  Rhone  and 
Garonne,  towards  Toulouse;  the  other,  from  the  Saone 
and  the  upper  parts  of  the  Loire,  towards  Geneva  and  the 
left  of  the  Rhone.  *He  himself,  though  still  determined  to 
avoid  any  general  action,  was  to  harass  the  enemy  in  their 
movements,  and  to  cut  oft'  their  supplies  of  provisions. 

Cesar,  on  his  part,  wished  to  open  his  communication 
with  the  Roman  province,  that  he  might  have  access  to 
cover  it  against  the  designs  of  the  enemy,  and  to  avail  itself 
of  its  resources  for  the  subsistence  of  his  army.  For  this 
purpose,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  return,  by  the  Saone 
and  the  Rhone,  through  a  level  country  which  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  enemy,  to  whom  he  was  greatly  inferior  in 
cavalry.  He  sent  into  Germany  for  a  reinforcement  of 
horse  ;  and  two  thousand  of  the  natives  joined  him,  when 
he  began  his  march  to  the  southward  ;  and  having  passed 
the  heights  at  the  sources  of  the  Seine,  found  the  GauU 
already  posted  in  three  separate  divisions,  coatiguous  to 
the  different  routes  he  might  take.  A  sharp  encounter 
ensued,  in  which  the  whole  cavalry  of  both  armies  cnme 
to  be  engaged.  The  Gauls  were  routed  chiefly  by  the 
valour  and  address  of  the  Germans,  to  whom  Cesar  imputed 
his  victory;  and  Vercingetorix  instantly  retired.  Cesar, 
BO  longer  apprehensive  of  the  enemy's  horse,  resumed  his 
ronfidence  and  followed  the  flying  enemy. 

Vercingetorix,  with  his  very  numerous  army,  took  post 
»t  Alesia,  a  place  raised  on  a  hill  at  the  confluence  of  two 
rivers  ;  the  point  on  which  it  stood  being  the  termination 

*  Now  Trevci,  Rheimp,  *nd  Langret. 


350  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

of  a  ridge  wliich  separated  the  channels  by  which  these 
rivers  descended  to  the  plain.  The  fields  on  one  side  were 
level,  on  the  other  mountainous.  The  Gauls  were  crowded 
together  on  the  declivity  of  the  hill  of  Alesia,  under  the 
walls  of  the  town,  and  in  that  position  thought  themselves 
secure  from  any  attack.  But  Cesar  immediately  began  to 
surround  them,  making  a  proper  distribution  of  his  army, 
and  employing  working  parties  at  once  on  a  chain  of  twenty- 
three  posts  and  re  loubts. 

Vercingetorix,  though  too  late,  perceiving  the  enemy's 
design,  dismissed  his  cavalry  with  instructions  to  make  the 
best  of  their  way  to  their  several  cantons,  and  there  to 
represent  the  situation  in  which  they  had  left  the  army, 
and  the  necessity  of  making  a  great  and  speedy  effort  from 
every  quarter  to  relieve  it.  He  had  eighty  thousand  men 
under  his  com  mand,  and  might  be  able  to  subsist  them  for 
thirty  days,  and  no  longer. 

The  Roman  armies  in  general,  and  those  which  served 
under  Cesar  in  particular,  had  learned  to  make  war 
with  the  pickaxe  and  the  shovel,  no  less  than  with  the 
javelin  and  the  sword,  and  were  'nn^ed  to  prodigies  o' 
labour  as  well  as  of  valour.  In  the  present  case  they  were 
made  to  execute  lines  of  eirfimvailation  and  countervalla- 
tion  over  an  extent  of  twelve  or  fourteen  miles. 

As  he  had  reason,  at  least  after  the  distress  of  a  blockade 
began  to  be  felt,  to  expect  from  a  garrison,  which  exceeded 
his  own  army  in  numbers,  the  most  vigorous  sallies  from 
within ;  and,  by  the  united  exertions  of  all  the  Gaulish 
nations  in  behalf  of  their  friends,  every  effort  that  could  be 
made  from  without ;  and  as  his  own  army,  consisting  of  no 
more  than  sixty  thousand  men,  could  not  equally  man,  in 
every  place,  works  of  such  extent,  he  covered  his  lines  with 
every  species  of  out- work  then  practised  in  the  art  of  defence. 

All  these  works,  it  appears,  the  Roman  army  completed, 
considerably  within  the  thirty  days  for  which  Vereingeto- 
rix  had  computed  that  his  provisions  might  last.  Both  par- 
ties concerned  in  tliis  blockade,  without  any  attempt  to 
hasten  the  event,  seemed  to  wait  for  the  several  circum- 
stances on  wliich  they  relied  for  the  issue.  Cesar  trusted 
to  the  effects  of  famine,  and  the  Gauls  to  the  assistance  of 
their  friends,  who  were  in  reality  assembling  in  great  num- 
bers from  every  quarter  to  effect  their  relief.  They  are 
said  to  have  mustered  at  Bibracte*  no  less  than  two  hu&~ 
dred  and  forty  thousand  foot,  with  eight  thousand  horse. 
The  supreme  command  of  this  multitude  was  given  to 

•  Autun. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN   REPUBLIC.  351 

Comius,  a  chieftain  of  one  of  the  northern  cantons,  who 
having  some  time  made  war  in  conjunction  with  the  Ro- 
mans, owed  the  rank  which  he  held  in  his  own  country  to 
the  favour  of  Cesar,  but  could  not  resist  the  <»>ntagion  of 
that  general  ardour  with  which  his  countrymen  now  rose 
to  recover  their  freedom. 

While  this  great  host  was  assembling,  the  unhappy  gar- 
rison of  Alesia  received  no  ladings  of  relief.  Their  provi- 
sions being  nearly  exhausted,  they  began  to  despair  of 
succour.  A  council  was  held  to  deliberate  on  their  conduct, 
nnd  to  form  some  plan  of  escape.  The  result  of  this  delibera- 
tion was  a  resolution  to  hold  out,  and  in  order  to  lessen  the 
consumption  of  food,  to  turn  out  the  women,  children,  and 
unarmed  inhabitants  of  the  town  to  the  mercy  of  the  enemy. 
The  latter  resolution  was  immediately  put  in  execution, 
when  Cesar,  in  order  to  accumulate  the  sufferings  of  the  be- 
sieged, would  neither  relieve  nor  suffer  the  destitute  multi- 
tude to  pass.  From  these  circumstances  we  may  presume, 
that  they  must  have  perished  a  spectacle  of  extreme  anguish 
and  suffering  in  the  presence  of  both  armies. 

In  the  midst  of  these  extremities,  Comius,  with  the  united 
force  of  the  Gaulish  nations,  at  last  appeared  for  the  relief 
of  Alesia,  and  advanced  within  less  than  half  a  mile  of 
Cesar's  lines.  On  the  following  day  an  action  took  place 
which  turned  out  unfavourably  for  the  Gauls.  Nothing 
passed  for  two  days  between  the  hostile  armies ;  but  at  the 
end  of  that  time  a  general  midnight  assault  was  made  from 
without  on  the  works  of  Cesar.  It  also  proved  a  failure. 

From  this  disappointment  the  Gauls,  both  within  and 
without  the  blockade,  were  sensible  of  their  error  in  having 
made  an  attack  before  they  had  examined  the  enemy's 
works.  In  correcting  this  mistake,  they  observed,  in  a 
particular  place,  that  the  exterior  line  was  interrupted  by  a 
hill  which  it  could  not  embrace  without  making  a  great 
circuit ;  that  Cesar,  to  avoid  so  great  an  addition  to  his 
labour,  and  so  much  outline  to  defend,  had  encamped  two 
legions  in  that  place  with  their  usual  entrenchment,  which 
formed  a  kind  of  fortress  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  trusting 
to  this  camp  as  a  redoubt  that  would  connect  his  defences 
on  that  side. 

This  place  was  chosen  by  the  Gauls  for  a  second  and  bet- 
ter concerted  attempt  than  the  nrst.  Five-and-fifty  thousand 
men  were  selected  for  this  service ;  and  they  began  their 
march  early  in  the  night,  arrived  at  their  ground  before 
creak  of  day,  and  lay  concealed  under  a  ridge  of  hills  till 
noon.  At  this  time  they  came  forward,  furnished  not  only 
with  grappling  irons  to  te:ir  down  the  palisade,  which  was 


352  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

formed  on  the  parapet,  but  with  hurdles  and  fagots  to  fill 
up  the  ditch,  and  to  smother  the  stimuli  from  which  they 
had  suffered  so  much  in  their  former  attacks. 

Cesar  ordered  Labienus  instantly,  with  six  cohorts,  to 
support  the  legions  that  were  posted  in  that  station  ;  with 
instructions,  in  case  he  found  that  the  lines  could  not  be 
defended,  to  sally  forth,  and  to  bring  the  action  to  an  issue, 
in  which  the  Romans  were  generally  found  to  have  an 
advantage  by  mixing  with  the  enemy  s\vord  in  hand.  He 
observed  the  Gauls,  who  were  shut  up  on  the  heights  of 
Alesia,  begin  the  action  on  their  part  nearly  about  the  same 
time  ;  and  finding  Labienus  much  pressed  where  the  Gauls 
made  their  principal  effort,  he  detached  two  several  parties 
from  his  reserve  to  sustain  him.  At  length,  upon  receiving 
information  that  Labienus  meant,  with  all  the  troops  who 
had  joined  him  from  different  stations,  amounting  to  nine- 
and-thirty  cohorts,  to  make  a  general  sally  according  to  his 
instructions,  he  himself  instantly  moved  to  support  him. 

He  had,  in  this  critical  moment,  with  his  usual  genius 
and  presence  of  mind,  ordered  his  cavalry  to  get  out  of  the 
lines ;  and,  while  the  foot  were  engaged  in  front,  to  take 
the  enemy  in  fiank  or  in  the  rear.  The  Gauls,  although  in 
the  attack  they  had  acted  with  ardour;  yet  lost  courage 
when  pushed  to  defend  themselves  ;  and,  upon  the  appear- 
ance of  Cesar's  cavalry  in  their  rear,  took  to  flight,  and 
were  pursued  with  great  slaughter. 

This  flight  at  once  decided  the  fate  of  both  attacks ;  of  the 
Gauls  who  were  shut  up  in  Alesia,  and  of  their  country- 


directions.  Many  fell  a  prey  to  the  parties  who  were  sent 
in  pursuit  of  them.  Those  from  witlun  the  lines,  who  had 
suffered  so'  long  a  blockade,  determined  to  surrender ;  and 
Vercingetorix  suffered  himself  to  be  delivered  up  to  the 
Romans.  With  respect  to  the  treatment  he  received,  Cesar 
is  silent ;  but  it  is  probable,  that,  like  other  captive  chiefs, 
on  such  occasions,  he  was  destined  to  grace  the  future  tri- 
umph of  his  conqueror. 

The  other  prisoners  also,  except  those  who  belonged  to 
the  cantons  of  the  JEdui  and  Arverni,  underwent  the  ordi- 
nary fate  of  captives  ;  and,  in  this  capacity,  were  exposed 
to  sale,  or  divided  as  plunder  among-  the  troops. 


CM.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  353 


CHAP.  IV. 

Ottir  remains  in  Gaul  -  Pompey  assumes  Piio  into  the  (JJJIcf  of  Oonml— 
Succession  o/Serrius  Sulpicius  and  M.  Claudius  Marcellut  -Arrang9- 
mentfor  the  1'rovincfs— Motion  to  recall  Cesar — Continued  Debates  in 
the  Senate  Operations  of  Cesar  in  Gaul  -  intrigues  in  the  City  - 
.Affairs  in  the  other  Provinces  Campaign  of  Cicero—  Succession  of 
Consuls  -Stale  of  Parties  in  the  City  and  in  the  Senate  -  Cetar  makes 
a  Circuit  through  his  Province —Parts  with  tiro  Legions  l»  Poinpey 
and  the  Senate  -Alarm  of  Cesar's  March  -  The  Consul  Marcellut  com- 
mits hi*  sirord  to  Pompey. 

THE  seventh  and  the  most  difficult  campaign  of  the  war  in 
Gaul  beinf*-  no\v  at  an  end,  Cesar  sent  Labhnus,  with  two 
legions  beyond  the  Saone ;  Caius  Fabius,  with  two  more, 
to  the  heads  of  the  Marne  and  the  Meuse ;  other  officers 
with  separate  bodies,  amounting-  in  all  to  three  legions,  into 
different  stations  beyond  the  Loire  and  towards  the 
Garonne ;  Quint  us  Tullius  Cicero,  with  some  other  officers, 
to  a  station  allotted  them  on  the  Saone,  to  superintend  the 
tormation  of  magazines. 

Cesar  himself  determined  to  pass  the  winter  on  this  side 
of  the  Alps.  He  resolved,  by  remaining  at  a  distance,  a* 
much  as  possible  to  shun  the  notice  of  such  parties  at  Koine 
as  were  known  to  observe  his  proceedings,  and  to  state 
them  as  matter  of  general  alarm.  He  nevertheless  did  not 
suffer  any  thing  of  moment  to  pass  in  the  city  without  taking 
some  part  by  means  of  his  agents  and  partisans.  , 

Pompey  had  now,  for  some  months,  exercised  the  office  of 
sole  consul.  In  that  time  he  had,  in  some  measure,  restored 
the  authority  of  government,  and  had  exercised  it  with 
moderation.  Having  enjoyed  his  present  dignity  from  the 
first  of  March  to  the  beginning  of  August,  he  took  for  col- 
league his  father-in-law  MetelllU  Scipio.  The  newly 
elected  colleague  of  Pompey,  desirous  to  signalize  his  ad- 
ministration by  some  act  of  reformation,  moved  and  obtained 
the  repeal  of  the  act  in  which  Clodius  had  so  greatly  circum- 
scribed the  power  of  the  censors  ;  and  ho  attempted  to  re- 
vive the  authority  of  this  magistracy,  but  in  vain. 

Disorders  arising  from  the  weakness  of  government  had 
come  to  that  extreme  at  which  states  mu*t  cither  correct 
themselves,  or  undergo  some  fatal  chanire.  The  correctives 
lately  applied  by  la\v  to  repress  the  unbridled  desire  of  ollice 
were  now  found  to  have  taken  ellect. 

At  the  elections  for  the  ensuing  year  only  three  candi- 
dates appeared;  M.  Marcellus,  Serving  Sulpicius,  nnd  M. 


S54  HISTORY  OF  THE  IB.  IV. 

Cato :  aH  of  them  supposed  to  be  of  the  senatorial!  party ; 
but  very  differently  considered  by  those  who  now  endea- 
voured to  rule  the  state.  Marcellus  had,  in  fact,  recom- 
mended himself  to  Pompey ;  and  Sulpicius,  as  afterwards 
appeared,  had  been  gained  by  Cesar;  and  both  were 
warmly  espoused  by  these  powerful  patrons  in  the  present 
contest. 

It  is  observed  of  this  competition,  that  it  was  carried  on 
without  bribery  or  tumult.  As  the  competitors  were  sup- 
posed to  be  all  of  the  senatorian  party,  the  senators  divided 
upon  the  occasion,  and  the  influence  of  Cesar  and  Pompey 
easily  cast  the  balance  on  the  side  of  Sulpicius  and  Mar- 
cellus. 

When  the  n«w  consuls  were  received  into  office,*  their 
immediate  predecessors  being  by  the  late  act  precluded  for 
fire  years  from  holding  any  provincial  government,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  fill  stations  of  this  sort  with  those  who 
had  formerly  been  In  office,  and  who  hitherto  had  not  been 
appointed  to  any  command  in  the  provinces.  Accordingly 
Bibulus,  who  had  been  the  colleague  of  Cesar  in  his  consu- 
late, was  appointed  to  the  government  of  Syria,  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Crassus.  Cicero  was  named  to  succeed  Appius 
Claudius  in  Cilieia  and  Cyprus,  Attius  Varus  was  appointed 
pretor  in  Africa,  and  P.  Cornelius  Spinther  ki  Achaia. 
Pompey,  who  had  hitherto  enjoyed  a  dispensation  from  the 
law,  in  continuing-  to  hold  by  his  lieutenants  the  govern- 
ment and  command  of  the  army  in  Spain,  while  he  filled 
the  office  of  consul  in  the  city,  now  professed  an  intention 
to  take-possession  of  his  province  in  person,  and  he  actually 
set  out  from  Rome  for  this  purpose ;  but  was  induced  to 
suspend  his  journey  by  a  motion,  which  was  made  in  the 
senate  by  Marcellus,  soon  after  his  accession  to  the  office  of 
consul. 

While  the  senate  was  deliberating  on  the  other  removes 
and  appointments  in  the  provincial  governments,  Marcellus 
proposed  that,  the  war  in  Gaul  being  finished,  Cesar  should 
be  recalled ;  or,  if  his  friends  insisted  on  his  being  continued 
in  his  command,  that  he  should  not  be  admitted  on  the  list 
of  candidates  for  the  consulate,  until  he  presented  himself 
personally  for  this  purpose.  This  motion  gave  rise  in  tho 
senate  to  warm  debates,  which  were  frequently  adjourned, 
and  as  often  resumed.  At  length  the  late  consul  Cornelius 
Scipio,  the  father-in-law  to  Pompey,  proposed,  that  on  the 
first  of  March,  when  the  persons  destined  to  succeed  the 
present  consuls  must  have  entered  on  office,  a  day  should 

*  U.  C.702. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  355 

he  fixed  to  consider  of  the  province  of  Gaul,  and  moved 
that  this  question  should  be  resumed  in  preference  to  every 
other  business.  Marcellus  accordingly  prepared,  and  laid 
before  the  senate,  a  decree  for  this  purpose  on  the  last  of 
September.  By  the  first  clause  of  this  decree,  the  consuls 
elected  for  the  following  year  were  required,  on  the  first 
of  March,  to  move  in  the  senate  the  consideration  of  the 
consular  provinces,  to  admit  no  other  business  to  precede 
or  to  be  joined  with  this,  and  to  suffer  no  interruption  iu 
the  meetings  of  the  senate,  even  on  account  of  the  assem- 
blies of  the  people. 

By  a  second  clause,  it  was  resolved,  that  whoever  should 
put  a  negative  on  this  decree,  should  be  declared  an  enemy 
to  his  country. 

In  Gaul,  Cesar  kept  up  an  appearance  of  war,  and  hii 
operations  led  on  to  the  spring,  when  a  more  real  service 
took  place  on  the  frontiers  of  the  lo\v  countries.  From 
that  quarter,  the  people  of  the  Remi*  had  given  informa- 
tion, that  the  Bellovaci,  or  inhabitants  of  what  is  now  called 
the  Beauvais,  with  other  cantons  on  tne  right  of  the  Oise, 
were  actually  arming,  and  meant  to  make  war  on  the  Ro- 
mans and  their  allies. 

On  this  intimation,  Cesar  with  five  legions  advanced 
rapidly  into  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Bellovaci,  passed  the 
Oise ;  but  arrived  too  late  to  surprise  his  enemy.  The 
Bellovaci.t  with  some  of  their  neighbours,  had  retired  with 
all  their  effects  to  a  strong  post.  They  had  a  hill  in  their 
front,  beyond  which  there  lay  a  morass,  and  in  that  situa- 
tion they  thought  themselves  sufficiently  secure  without 
any  artificial  work.  Cesar  posted  himself  in  their  neigh- 
Dourhood ;  and  supposing  that  the  superiority  of  their  num- 
bers would  inspire  them  with  confidence,. took  measures  to 
augment  their  presumption. 

The  enemy,  however,  continued  to  avoid  any  gem>r;il 
action,  and  were  satisfied  with  the  successful  war  they 
were  suffered  to  make  on  the  foraging  parties  which  wore 
sent  from  the  Roman  camp.  Being  joined  by  five  hundred 
German  horse,  they  attacked  and  destroyed  the  cavalry, 
which  had  come  to  the  assistance  of  Cesar  from  the  cantons  of 
the  liemi  and  Lingones.J  and  on  which  he  chiefly  relied  for 
covering  the  avenues  to  his  camp.  On  th's  loss  he  orderrd 
Trebonius,  with  the  two  legions  at  Genabuin,|  and  a 
third  from  Avaricum,||  to  join  him  \\itliout  delay 

The  Gauls,  on  hearing  of  tikis  great  accession  of  strength 

»  Rheiou.        t  The  Beauvaic.        I  Bheims  and  Langm. 
9  Orleans.  U   Bourgrt. 


356  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

to  their  enemy,  and  recollecting  the  fatal  blockade  and  ruin 
of  their  countrymen  at  Alesia,  changed  their  ground. 
They  afterwards  succeeded  in  most  of  their  attempts  on 
the  parties  that  were  sent  abroad  by  Cesar  to  procure  him 
provisions ;  and  having-  reduced  him  to  the  necessity  of  de- 
pending entirely  for  the  subsistence  of  his  army  on  what  a 
particular  district  could  supply,  they  formed  a  design,  with 
the  choice  of  their  army,  to  surround  and  cut  off  the  parties 
which  they  expected  he  must  employ  on  that  service.  Ce- 
sar had  intelligence  of  their  design,  and  placed  his  army  in 
a  proper  position  to  surprise  the  great  detachment  they 
had  made ;  and  having  thus  taken  or  destroyed  the  flower 
of  their  army,  obliged  the  remainder,  who  were  thrown 
into  despair  by  so  great  a  loss,  to  surrender  themselves  at 
discretion ;  in  consequence  of  this  surrender,  he  got  pos- 
session of  all  the  cantons  in  that  neighbourhood. 

The  Belgic  nations  being  thus  finally  subdued,  and  Ce- 
sar having  no  longer  any  enemy  to  oppose  him.  in  the  field, 
except  a  few  desperate  bands  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  who,  either  from  fear  of  his  severity,  or  aversion 
to  his  government,  had  deserted  their  settlements,  he  began 
to  act  against  them  in  different  quarters  at  once,  and  to  cat 
off  the  retreats,  which,  in  case  of  distress,  this  remnant  of 
the  nations  who  lately  opposed  him  mutually  gave  to  each 
ather. 

In  the  following  out  of  these  measures,  C.  Fabius  being 
arrived  at  the  place  of  his  destination,  between  thelower  parts 
of  the  Loire  and  the  Garonne,  found  a  considerable  force 
in  arms  against  Caninius  Rebilus,  the  Roman  officer,  who 
was  stationed  in  that  quarter.  The  natives  had  laid  siege 
to  a  fortress  that  was  in  possession  of  the  Romans ;  but 
alarmed  by  the  approach  of  Fabius,  they  withdrew,  and  en- 
deavoured to  pass  the  Loire  to  the  northward.  In  this 
attempt,  being  intercepted  in  their  march,  and  obliged  to 
fight  the  Roman  detachment,  they  were  defeated  with  great 
slaughter. 

Fabius  received  the  submission  of  all  the  nations  from  the 
Loire  to  the  Seine,  and  quite  down  to  the  sea  coast ;  and 
this  victory  being  followed  by  the  surrender  of  Uxellodunum. 
a  place  of  strength  where  the  scattered  parties  of  the  enemy 
had  taken  refuge,  the  war  in  Gaul,  one  of  the  bloodiest  in 
the  annals  of  the  world,  was  brought  to  a  close. 

Cesar  now  distributed  his  army  in  the  conquered  country 
so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  chain  from  thefrontier  of  his  original 
province,  quite  through  the  heart  of  his  new  acquisitions  to 
the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt.  And  by  his  seeming  anxiety 
for  the  safety  of  the  northern  extremities  of  his  province, 


Cm.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  357 

and  still  more  by  his  own  distance  from  Italy,  he  probably 
lulled  for  a  while  the  vigilance  or  jealousy  of  his  principal 
opponents  at  Rome.  His  own  attention,  however,  to  the 
state  of  politics  was  never  less  remitted. 

Mark  Antony,  a  person  profligate  and  dissipateu,  but 
when  the  occasion  required  exertion,  daring  and  eloquent, 
destined  to  be  frequently  mentioned  in  the  sequel  of  this 
history,  now  began  to  be  employed  by  Cesar  in  the  affairs 
of  the  city ;  and,  under  pretence  of  standing  for  the  priest- 
hood, was  sent  from  Gaul,  where  he  had  recently  served  in 
the  army,  to  bear  a  principal  part  among  the  agents  and 
emissaries  of  his  general.  These  agents  were  continually 
busied  in  magnifying  his  services,  and  in  gaining  to  his 
interest  every  person  of  consideration  who  could  in  any 
degree  advance  or  obstruct  his  designs.  They  took  care 
at  the  same  time,  in  his  name  and  by  his  directions,  under 
the  pious  pretence  of  celebrating  the  memory  ol  his  daughter, 
the  late  wife  of  Pompey,  to  cajole  the  people  with  public 
entertainments  and  feasts  ;  and  proceeded  to  execute,  at  a 
great  expense,  certain  splendid  works  which  Cesar  had 
formerly  ordered. 

He  himself,  at  the  same  time,  was  careful  to  secure  the 
affections  of  the  army  ;  doubled  their  pay,  and  was  lavish  in 
all  the  other  articles  which  were  derived  from  his  bounty. 
Besides  his  occasional  liberality  to  the  legions  in  time  of  the 
war,  he  gave,  or  engaged  himself  to  pay,  to  each  particular 
soldier,  what  to  persons  of  that  condition  was  a  consider- 
able object. 

While  Cesar  was  thus  extending  his  influence,  he  had 
amused  Pompey  by  assigning  to  him,  in  all  their  arrange- 
ments, what  was  apparently  the  place  of  honour  and  of  im- 
portance at  the  head  of  affairs  at  Home.  It  was  impossible 
for  Pompey,  however,  now  to  remain  any  longer  insensible 
to  the  superiority  which  Cesar  had  acquired,  or  to  those  still 
more  important  objects  at  which  he  was  aiming ;  so  he  no 
longer  contented  himself  with  employing  others  in  ill-con- 
certed and  ineffectual  attacks,  which  he  sometimes  dis- 
owned, and  always  feebly  supported,  but  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  measures  of  which  we  have  observed  the  beginning 
in  the  senate*  hazarded  the  whole  authority  of  that  body 
against  Cesar,  without  having  provided  any  military  power 
to  enforce  their  commands. 

The  principal  attention  of  all  parties,  during  this  summer 
and  autumn,  as  has  been  mentioned,  had  been  turned  to  the 
affairs  of  Cesar,  and  the  dangerous  tendency  of  the  course 
he  pursued  :  and  they  were  but  for  a  little  while  diverted 
from  tliia  object  by  an  alarm  on  tlio  s;do  of  Syria.  Ttu» 


3bA  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

Parthians,  encouraged  by  their  late  success  against  Crassus 
passed  the  Euphrates  with  a  great  army,  commanded  by 
Pacorus,  son  to  Orodes,  under  the  direction  of  Osaces,  a 
veteran  and  experienced  leader.  Before  measures  could 
bo  determined,  or  before  any  reinforcement  could  be  ready, 
to  join  the  army  in  Syria,  the  people  were  relieved  of  their 
fears  by  Caius  Cassius,  the  general  then  commanding  in  that 
province,  who  had  obliged  the  Parthians  to  withdraw  from 
Antioch ;  in  their  retreat  attacked  them,  and  made  great 
slaughter. 

The  province  of  Cilicia  had  been  for  some  years  subject  to 
the  Romans;  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountainous  parts 
had  never  acknowledged  their  authority,  nor  even  that  of 
their  own  national  sovereigns.  Cicero,  on  his  arrival  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  their  country,  finding  that  the  people  had 
retired  to  their  strongholds,  and  were  still  determined  to 
oppose  his  authority,  formed  a  design  to  surprise  them.  In 
this  design  he  was  successful,  cutting  them  off  separately, 
pursuing  such  as  fled,  forcing  their  strongholds,  and  in  about 
sixty  days  reducing  some  towns  and  a  considerable  tract 
of  country,  which  had  never  before  acknowledged  the 
Roman  government. 

Whilst  these  provincial  affairs  v\ere  managed  by  tne  com- 
manders to  whom  they  were  intrusted,  the  usual  time  of 
elections  at  Rome  being  arrived,  L.  JEmilius  Paulus,  and 
C.  Claudius  Marcellus  were  elected  to  succeed  to  the  con- 
sulate for  the  following  year.  Caius  Marcellus,  as  well  as 
his  relation  and  immediate  predecessor  Marcus  Marcellus, 
was  understood  to  be  in  the  interest  of  Pompey.  JEmiiius 
Paulus,  a  senator  of  rank,  and  of  course  interested  in  the 
preservation  of  the  republic,  the  honours  of  which  he  was  so 
well  entitled  to  share,  was  expected  to  support  the  mea- 
sures of  the  seriate,  and  adhere  to  the  established  forms. 
Together  with  internal  tranquillity,  the  government 
seemed  to  recover  its  ancient  severity.  Appius  Claudius, 
late  proconsul  of  Cilicia,  and  Calpurnius  Piso  were  chosen 
censors  to  the  general  satisfaction,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
*enate  were  likewise  considerably  raised  by  the  unexpected 
aomination  of  Caius  Scribonius  Curio  to  be  one  of  the  tri- 
bunes. 

The  new  magistrates  accordingly  entered  on  office  \vi*vi 
high  expectations  that  the  dangerous  pretensions  of  amoi- 
tious  citizens,  particularly  those  of  Cesar,  would  be  effectu- 
ally checked.*  The  consuls  were  possessed  of  a  resolution 
<rf  the  senate,  requiring  them  to  proceed  to  the  business  of 

*  V.  C.  7M 


Cir.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  359 

Cesar's  province  by  the  first  of  March.  This  resolution 
wanted  only  the  consent  of  the  tribunes  to  render  it  a  for- 
mal act  of  the  executive  power,  of  which  this  rrwich  was 
by  the  constitution  lodged  in  the  senate.  But  one  of  the 
tribunes  having1  forbid  the  decree,  M.  Marcellus,  late  con- 
sul, moved  that  application  might  be  made  to  this  officer  to 
withdraw  the  negative,  which  prevented  the  effect  of  what 
the  senate  had  resolved.  But  the  motion  was  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  the  senate  itself,  and  many  other  symptoms  of 
Cesar's  great  influence,  even  over  this  order  of  men,  soon 
after  appeared. 

This  able  politician,  probably  that  he  might  not  seern  to 
have  any  views  upon  Italy,  had  fixed  his  quarters,  and  that 
of  his  army,  in  the  low  countries,  and  at  the  extremity  of 
ais  recent  conquests.  But  instead  of  seizing  every  pretence, 
as  formerly,  for  making  war  on  the  natives  of  Gaul,  he  en- 
deavoured to  quiet  their  fears,  and  to  conciliate  their  affec- 
tions ;  and  while  he  kept  the  whole  province  in  a  state  of 
profound  tranquillity,  collected  money,  provided  arms,  and 
completed  his  legions,  as  if  preparing  for  a  dangerous  and 
important  war. 

There  were  pro'>aoiv  now  three  parties  in  the  state  ;  one 
devoted  to  Cesar,  another  to  Pompey,  and  a  third  that 
meant  to  support  the  republic  against  the  intrigues  or  vio- 
lence of  either.  The  latter  must  have  been  few,  and  could 
not  hope  to  be  of  much  consequence,  except  by  joining 
such  of  the  other  two,  as  appeared  by  the  character  of  its 
leader  least  dangerous  to  the  commonwealth.  Cesar  had 
shown  himself  in  his  political  course,  a  dangerous  subject, 
and  an  arbitrary  magistrate.  The  description  of  his  adher- 
ents, and  the  character  of  persons  that  crowded  to  his 
standard,  justified  the  general  fear  and  distrust  which  was 
entertained  of  his  designs.  All  who  had  fallen  under  sen- 
tence of  the  law,  all  who  dreaded  this  fate,  all  who  had 
suffered  any  disgrace,  or  were  conscious  they  deserved  it ; 
young  men  who  were  impatient  of  government;  the  popu- 
lace,  who  had  an  aversion  to  order  ;  the  bankrupt,  to  whom 
law  and  property  itself  were  enemies  ;  all  these  looked  for 
his  approach  with  impatience,  and  joined  ill  every  cry  that 
was  raised  in  his  favour. 

1'o'iipey,  tlit?  leader  of  the  opposite  party,  had  never 
ceased  to  embroil  the  state  with  his  intrigues,  and  even  in- 
vaded the  laws  by  his  impatience  for  extraordinary  and 
unprecedented  honours  ;  yet,  when  possessed  of  power,  he 
had  employed  it  with  moderation,  and  seemed  to  delight  in 
receiving  these  singular  trusts  by  the  free  choice  of  hU 
country ;  not  in  extorting  them,  not  in  making  any  illegal 


360  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

use  of  them,  nor  in  retaining-  them  beyond  the  terms  pre- 
scribed oy  his  commission.  It  appeared,  that  in  nothing  he 
had  ever  injured  the  commonwealth  so  deeply,  as  in  cabal 
ling  with  Cesar  while  he  rose  to  his  present  elevation. 

This  comparison  of  the  parties  which  were  now  to  con- 
tend f<>r  power  at  the  hazard  of  the  republic,  made  it  easy 
for  good  citizens  to  choose  their  side.  But  they  neverthe- 
less naturally  wished  to  prevent  the  contest  from  coming  t« 
extremities;  as  in  the  event  of  the  war,  which  they 
dreaded,  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  avoid  a  military  govern- 
ment. They  considered  a  proposal  to  order  both  Pompey 
and  Cesar  to  quit  their  commands,  and  return  to  a  private 
station,  as  a  mere  pretence  to  justify  Cesar  in  keeping  pos- 
session of  his  army ;  but  they  saw  that  there  was  no  force 
in  the  republic  sufficient  to  resist  him.  They  wished  to 
arm  Pompey  for  this  purpose ;  but  were  prevented,  either 
by  the  confidence  which  he  still  gave  them  of  his  own 
superiority,  or  by  their  fear  of  precipitating  the  state  into  a 
civil  war,  by  seeming  to  take  any  precautions  against  it. 

Cesar  would  have  considered  every  attempt  to  arm  the 
republic  as  a  declaration  against  himself ;  and  was  ready  to 
commence  hostilities  before  any  such  measure  could  be 
carried  into  execution.  The  proposal  for  disarming  at  once 
both  Cesar  and  Pompey,  in  the  mean  time,  was  extremely 
acceptable  to  the  popular  party,  who  perpetually  sounded 
the  cry  of  liberty  against  the  senate,  and  lately  too  against 
Pompey  himself,  who,  on  account  of  the  spirit  of  his  admin- 
istration when  last  in  office,  aud  the  severity  of  his  prose- 
cutions against  bribery  and  other  offences,  which  are  not 
odious  to  the  vulgar,  was  become  in  a  considerable  degree 
unpopular,  and  supposed  to  aim  at  a  tyranny. 

Pompey,  for  the  most  part,  chose  to  dissemble  his  senti- 
ments, and  advanced  to  his  purpose  by  indirect  means ;  he 
was  therefore,  like  most  artful  men,  easily  overreached  by 
persons  who  perceived  his  designs;  and  proDably,  on  the 
present  occasion,  was  the  only  dupe  of  his  own  artifices,  or 
of  those  that  were  employed  against  him.  Curio,  in  the 
senate,  openly  attacked  this  part  of  his  character,  insisting 
that  actions,  and  not  professions,  were  now  to  be  regarded : 
that  the  army  of  Cesar  was,  to  the  republic,  a  necessary 
defence  against  that  of  Pompey;  that  nevertheless,  both 
should  be  ordered  to  disband,  under  pain  of  being  declared, 
in  case  of  disobedience,  enemies  to  their  country ;  and  that 
an  army  should  be  instantly  levied  to  enforce  these  orders. 
The  friends  of  Cesar,  in  the  senate,  offered  to  compromise 
the  dispute ;  and  provided  Pompey  retired  to  his  province, 
and  Cesar  was  allowed  to  retain  the  Cisaloine  Gaul  with 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC,  3d 

two  legion?,  they  proposed,  in  his  name,  to  disband  the  re- 
mainder of  his  army,  and  to  resign  the  other  part  o^  his  pro- 
vinces. 

In  the  result  of  these  debates,  the  senate,  upon  the  motion 
of  the  consul  Marcellus,  came  to  a  vote  on  the  following 
questions,  which  were  separately  stated,  relating-  to  the 
appointments  both  of  Cesar  and  of  Pompey.  On  the  first 
question,  Whether  Cesar  should  disband  his  army?  the 
Ayes  were  general  throughout  the  house.  On  the  second, 
relating  to  Pompey,  the  Noes  greatly  prevailed.  Whether 
these  proceedings  of  the  senate  were  annulled  by  any  infor- 
mality, or  were  deprived  of  effect  by  any  other  circum- 
stance, does  not  appear.  The  only  immediate  consequence 
they  seem  to  have  produced,  was  an  order  to  Pompey  and 
Cesar,  requiring  each  of  them  to  march  a  legion  to  reinforce 
the  army  in  Syria,  where  the  Parthians,  threatened  to  re- 
peat their  invasion  in  the  present  spring  and  summer. 

While  the  subject  of  Cesar's  appointments  occupied  all 
parties  at  Rome,  he  himself,  with  his  army,  passed  a  quiet 
winter  in  Gaul ;  and  at  the  end  of  it,  or  early  in  the  spring, 
set  out  for  Italy, 

On  his  return  to  Cisalpine  Gaul,  he  was  met  in  all  th« 
provincial  towns  and  colonies  with  more  than  a  kingly  re- 
ception, with  sacrifices  and  processions  everywhere  made  by 
innumerable  crowds,  which  were  assembled  to  see  and  ad- 
mire him.  Having  made  the  circuit  of  this  province,  and 
sounded  the  dispositions  of  the  people,  he  returned  with 
great  despatch  to  his  quarters  at  Nemetocenna,*  in  the  low 
countries,  where  he  likewise  wished  to  know  the  disposi- 
tion as  well  as  the  state  of  his  army. 

About  the  same  time,  Cesar  received  the  famous  order  of 
the  senate  to  detach  a  legion  from  his  army  to  be  trans- 
ported into  Syria,  and  employed  in  the  Parthian  war  ;  and 
likewise  to  restore  that  legion  which  heiiad  borrowed  from 
Pompey.  In  compliance  with  the  senate's  order,  he  sent 
the  fifteenth  legion,  then  upon  the  Po,  and  relieved  it  by  one 
from  his  present  camp.  In  dismissing  the  soldiers  of  Pom- 
pey, he  was,  under  pretence  of  gratitude  for  past  services, 
most  lavish  of  his  caresses  and  thanks ;  and  as  an  earnest  of 
future  favour,  ordered  each  private  man  a  gratuity  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  denarii,  t 

The  officers,  who  were  sent  to  make  these  demands,  and 
to  conduct  the  troops  into  Italy,  brought  to  their  employers 
a  very  flattering  report  of  the  state  and  dispositions  of,  Ce- 
sar's army:  that  they  longed  to  change  their  commander; 
bad  a  high  opinion  of  Porapey ;  and,  if  marched  into  Italy 
*  Arra*.  +  »bout5t 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

would  surely  desert  to  him :  that  Cesar  was  become  odious 
on  account  of  the  hard  service  in  which  he  had  so  long  em- 
ployed them,  without  any  adequate  reward,  and  on  account 
of  the  suspicion  that  he  aimed  at  the  monarchy.  It  is  in  the 
highest  degree  probable,  that  their  crafty  leader  employed 
proper  persons  to  hold  this  language  to  the  commissioner! 
of  the  senate,  and  to  the  officers  of  Pompey ;  and  to  utter 
complaints  of  their  commander,  and  of  the  service,  on  pur- 
pose that  they  might  be  repeated  in  Italy. 

On  the  approach  of  winter  he  conducted  his  army  back  to 
their  quarters  in  the  low  countries,  and  the  interior  parts 
of  Gaul.  He  himself  intended  to  winter  within  the  Alps, 
but  had  no  troops  on  that  side  of  the  mountains  that  could 
occasion  any  suspicion.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Italy  he  affected 
surprise  upon  hearing  that  the  two  legions  lately  demanded 
from  him  had  not  been  sent  into  Asia,  but  were  kept  in 
Italy,  and  put  under  the  command  of  Pompey.  He  com- 
plained, that  he  was  betrayed ;  that  his  enemies  meant  to 
disarm  and  circumvent  him.  *'  But  while  the  republic  is 
safe,  and  matters  can  be  made  up  on  amicable  terms,  I  will 
bear,"  he  said,  "  with  any  indignities?,  rather  than  involve 
the  state  in  a  civil  war." 

While  the  factions  that  were  likely  to  divide  the  empire 
were  in  this  situation,  C.  Marcellus,  now  third  of  this  name 
in  the  succession  of  consuls,  together  with  Publius  Lentulus, 
were  chosen  for  the  following  year.  Before  they  entered 
on  office  a  rumour  arose,  that  Cesar,  with  his  whole  army, 
was  actually  in  motion  to  pass  the  Alps.  Marcellus,  consul 
of  the  present  year,  assembled  the  senate ;  laid  before  them 
this  report,  and  moved,  that  the  troops  then  in  Italy  should 
be  prepared  to  act,  and  new  levies  should  be  ordered.  A 
debate  ensued,  in  which  Curio  contradicted  the  report,  and. 
by  his  Tribunitian  authority,  forbade  the  senate  to  proceed 
in  any  resolution  upon  this  subject. 

On  this  interposition  of  the  tribune,  the  consul  dismissed 
the  assembly,  using,  together  with  other  expressions  ot 
impatience,  the  words  following:  That  if  he  were  not 
supported  by  the  senate,  in  the  measures  which  were 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the*  commonwealth,  he 
should  put  the  exercise  of  his  power  into  hands  more  likely 
to  make  the  state  be  respected:  then,  together  with 
Lentulus,  one  of  the  consuls  elected  for  the  ensuing  year, 
he  repaired  to  the  gardens  where  Pompey  resided ;  this 
officer  being  obliged,  on  account  of  his  military  command, 
to  remain  without  the  city ;  and  presenting  his  sword,  bid 
him  employ  it  for  the  defence  of  his  country,  and  with  it  to 
assume  the  command  of  the  forces  then  in  Italy. 


CH.  V  1  ROMAN  REPUBLIC  363 


CHAP.  V. 

Ranee  of  (fie  Scna'e  to  ntpertede  Cetar—  Commotion  to  the  Consult  and 
to  Pompey— Their  Retoluiiont  -Flight  of  the  Tribune*  Antony  and 
Quintut  Cnttiat—  March  of  Ce$ar— Flight  of  Pompey  and  the  tenate, 
$c.  —  Approach  of  Cetar  —  Embarkation  and  Departure  of  Pompey 
from  Brunduiium—  Return  of  Cetar  to  Rame—Pauet  by  Mar  millet  into 
fyxrin—  Campaign  on  the  Segra — Legiont  of  I'ompey  in  Spain  con- 
ducted  to  the  Far. 

IN  the  present  situation  of  affairs,  every  resolution  which 
the  friends  of  the  republic  could  take  was  fraught  with 
danger,  and  every  day  increased  their  perplexity.  To  leave 
Cesar  in  possession  of  his  army,  and  to  admit  him  with  such 
a  force  to  the  head  of  the  commonwealth,  was  to  submit, 
without  a  struggle,  to  the  dominion  he  meant  to  assume. 
To  persist  in  confining  him  to  one  or  other  of  these  advan- 
tages, was  to  furnish  him  with  a  pretence  to  make  war  on 
the  republic.  The  powers  which  were  necessary  to  enable 
Pompey  to  resist  Cesar,  might  be  equally  dangerous  to  the 
republic  in  the  possession  of  the  one,  as  they  were  in  that 
of  the  other.  Tliis  person,  on  whom  the  state  was  now  to 
rely,  even  while  his  own  consideration,  with  that  of  every 
other  senator,  was  at  stake,  did  not  seem  disposed  to  act, 
until  all  the  powers  that  were  wanting  to  gratify  his  ambi- 
tion should  be  put  into  his  hands.  With  an  appearance  of 
ease  and  negligence,  he  went  upon  parties  of  pleasure 
through  Italy,  while  every  one  else  apprehended  that  Rome 
itself,  as  well  as  Italy,  must  soon  become  a  scene  of  blood. 

To  justify  this  security,  or  presumption  ou  the  part  of 
Pompey,  it  must  be  remembered  that  while  Cesar  was 
forming  an  army  in  Gaul,  Pompey,  by  means  of  his  lieu- 
tenants, likewise  formed  a -great  army  of  six  complete 
legions,  and  many  auxiliaries,  in  Spain.  It  ought  likewise 
to  be  considered,  that  although  few  troops  were  then  actually 
formed  in  Italy,  yet  this  was  the  great  nursery  of  soldiers 
for  the  whole  empire,  and  multitudes  could,  on  any  sudden 
emergency,  be  embodied  in  every  part  of  that  country. 

Pompey,  with  these  securities  in  his  hands  for  the  final 
success  of  his  views  against  Cesar,  suffered  this  rival  to  run 
his  career,  leaving  the  senate  exposed  to  the  dangers  which 
threatened  them.  He  continued  with  votes  and  resolutions 
of  the  senate  to  combat  Cesar,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a 
numerous  army,  ready  on  tlio  first  plausible  pretence  to  fall 
upon  Italy,  to  seize  the  seats  of  government,  and  avail 
himself  of  that  name  and  authority  of  the  republic,  on  whicfc 
Pompey  liimself  so  greatly  relied. 


364  HISTORY  OF  THE  fB.  IV. 

Meantime,  the  new  year  commenced,  and  C.  Claudius 
Marcellus  with  L.  Cornelius  Lentulus,  entered  on  their 
office  as  consuls.*  Both  parties  were  prepared  for  H 
decisive  resolution  on  the  subject  of  Cesar's  claims.  He 
himself  for  some  years  had  wintered  near  to  the  northern 
extremity  of  his  provinces.  He  was  now  at  Ravenna,  the 
nearest  station  of  his  army  to  Rome ;  but  without  any 
troops,  besides  what  appear  to  have  been  the  usual  establish- 
ment of  the  Cisalpine  province;  that  is,  one  legion,  and 
three  hundred  horse,  making  in  the  whole  between 
five  and  six  thousand  men.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at 
Ravenna,  he  had  been  visited  by  Curio,  who,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  tribunate,  made  this  journey  to  receive  his  direc- 
tions in  respect  to  the  future  operations  of  the  party  ;  and 
after  their  conference,  returned  to  Rome  with  a  letter  from 
Cesar,  addressed  to  the  senate,  which  was  presented  on  the 
first  of  January,  at  the  admission  of  the  new  consuls  into 
office. 

The  consul  Lentulus  moved,  that  prior  to  any  other 
business,  the  state  of  the  republic,  and  that  of  the  provinces, 
should  be  taken  under  consideration  ;  and  alluding  to  the 
resolutions  which  were  already  on  record,  relating  to  Cesar's 
province,  said,  that  if  the  senate  stood  firm  on  this  occasion 
to  their  former  decrees,  his  services  should  not  be  wanting 
to  the  commonwealth.  He  was  seconded  by  Scipio,  and 
was  applauded  by  the  general  voice  of  the  senate  ;  but 
Cesar  had  procured  the  admission  of  Mark  Antony  and  of 
Quintus  Cassius,  two  of  his  most  noted  and  determined 
partisans,  into  the  college  of  tribunes.  They  began  with 
threatening  to  stop  all  proceedings  of  the  senate,  until 
Cesar's  letter  was  read ;  and  prevailed  on  this  meeting  to 
begin  with  that  paper.  It  was  expressed,  according  to 
Cicero,  in  terms  menacing  arid  harsh,  and  contained  in 
substance  a  repetition  of  the  proposals,  which  Cesar  had 
been  all  along  making  through  Curio,  and  his  other  adhe- 
rents at  Rome,  "That he  should  be  allowed  to  retain  the 
honours,  which  the  Roman  people  had  bestowed  upon  him ; 
that  he  should  be  left  upon  a  footing  of  equality  with  other 
officers,  who  were  allowed  to  join  civil  office  at  Rome  with 
military  establishments  in  the  provinces ;  and  that  he  should 
not  be  singled  out  as  the  sole  object  of  their  distrust  and 
severity." 

This  letter  was  considered  as  an  attempt  to  prescribe 
to  the  senate,  and  unbecoming  the  respect  due  to  their 
authority.  I*;  was  by  many  treated  as  an  actual  declaration 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  366 

of  war.  The  debates  Avere  terminated  by  the  passing  of  a 
resolution,  ordering  Cesar  to  dismiss  his  army,  and  by  a 
certain  day  to  retire  from  his  provinces,  or  in  case  of  dis- 
obedience, declaring  him  an  enemy  to  his  country.  It  was 
determined  also  to  give  to  the  consuls  and  other  magistrates, 
together  with  Pompey,  in  the  character  of  proconsul,  the 
charge  usual  in  the  most  dangerous  conjunctures ;  to  pre- 
serve the  commonwealth  by  such  means  as  to  their  discre- 
tion should  appear  to  be  necessary.  The  tribunes,  Mark 
Antony  and  Quintus  Cassius,  affected  to  apprehend  immed 
late  danger  to  their  own  persons :  they  disguised  themselves 
in  the  habit  of  slaves,  and,  together  with  Curio,  in  the  night 
fled  from  Rome  in  hired  carriages. 

When  Ceear  received  accounts  of  the  senate's  resolution, 
he  drew  forth  the  troops  then  at  Ravenna,  and  in  a  ha- 
rangue enumerated  the  wrongs  which  he  alleged  had  been 
done  to  himself ;  and  exhorted  the  army  to  maintain  the 
honour  of  an  officer,  under  whom  they  had  now,  for  nine 
years,  faithfully  served  the  republic.  He  was  answered 
with  a  shout  of  applause,  and  a  general  acclamation  from 
the  ranks,  that  they  were  ready  to  avenge  the  injuries 
done  to  their  general,  and  to  the  tribunes  of  the  people. 

On  receiving  these  assurances  from  the  troops  then 
present,  Cesar  immediately  despatched  an  express  to  the 
quarters  of  the  twelfth  legion,  which,  from  the  time  at 
which  it  afterwards  joined  him,  appears  to  have  been 
already  within  the  Alps,  with  orders  to  march. 

On  the  very  day  that  he  delivered  the  harangue  just 
mentioned  to  the  legion  that  was  quartered  at  Ravenna,  he 
ordered  a  chosen  body  of  men,  in  the  manner  of  stragglers 
roving  for  pleasure  through  the  country,  and  armed  only 
with  swords,  to  take  the  road  separately,  and  without  any 
appearance  of  concert,  to  Ariminum,  the  first  fortified  place 
in  Italy  beyond  the  Rubicon,  the  limit  of  his  province, 
there  to  remain,  and  at  a  certain  time  of  the  night  to  seize 
upon  one  of  the  gates.  He  likewise  ordered  a  party  of 
horse  to  parade  at  some  distance  from  Ravenna,  and  there 
to  wait  for  an  officer  who  was  to  deliver  them  orders.  He 
himself,  at  night,  joined  this  party  of  hor>e ;  ami,  marching 
about  thirty  miles  before  break  of  day,  entered  Ariminum 
by  a  gate  which  the  party  he  had  sent  before  him  kept- 
open,  and  thus  without  any  resistance  took  possession  of 
the  place. 

Lucius  Cesar  and  the  pretor  Roscius  were  now  come 
without  any  public  commission,  probably  to  hinder  their 
friend  from  taking  any  desperate  resolution.  They  brought, 
at  the  same  time,  a  private  message  from  Pompey,  with 

G   G 


366  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

some  expressions  of  civility,  and  an  apology,  taken  from 
the  necessity  of  the  public  service,  for  the  hardship  which 
he  supposed  himself  .to  have  put  upon  Cesar.  Cesar  re- 
turned an  answer  to  it,  containing  his  former  complaints 
and  proposals.  From  this  time  forward  he  continually 
repeated  his  proposals  of  peace,  while  he  urged  his  military 
operations  with  uncommon  rapidity.  He  ordered  new 
levies  at  Ariminum,  and  sent  Antony  to  occupy  Arretium, 
a  pass  in  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Flaminian  Way  through 
the  Apennines;  and  as  fast  as  the  troops  could  march  he 
seized  Pisaurum,  Faunum,  Auximum,  with  the  town  -of 
Ancona,  and  all  the  places  necessary  to  give  him  the  com- 
mand of  that  district,  or  to  open  his  way  to  Rome. 

A  general  consternation  spread  over  all  the  country 
before  him  ;  the  people  lied  from  their  habitations,  and 
communicated  the  alarm,  with  every  sort  of  exaggeration, 
to  the  city.  Orders  had  gone  forth  to  raise  troops  in  every 
part  of  Italy;  but  no  great  progress  in  so  short  a  time 
could  yet  have  been  made  in  that  service.  Besides  the  two 
legions  which  had  served  so  long  under  Cesar  himself, 
there  were  not  any  forces  embodied  in  the  country.  These 
were  justly  suspected  of  inclining  to  their  former  general ; 
and,  instead  of  enabling  Pompey  to  meet  the  danger  which 
threatened  the  commonwealth,  furnished  him,  at  the  head 
of  such  troops,  with  particular  reasons  for  his  keeping  at  a 
distance  from  the  enemy. 

Domitius  Ahenobarbus  had  been  appointed  to  succeed 
Cesar  in  the  government  of  Gaul ;  and,  with  some  other 
officers  in  the  Picenum,*  had  made  some  progress  in  raising 
troops.  Their  numbers,  perhaps,  surpassed  those  of  Cesar. 
If  Pompey,  therefore,  had  thought  it  possible  to  defend  the 
city,  he  must  have  hastened  to  that  quarter,  and  have  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  those  troops.  But  he  was  timorous 
in  hazarding  his  own  reputation,  and,  instead  of  acting  in 
the  field,  assembled  the  senate,  and  informed  them  that  it 
was  necessary  to  abandon  Rome  ;  that  he  would  meet  them 
again  at  Capua,  where  he  proposed  to  assemble  his  forces  ; 
that  he  should  consider  all  those  who  remained  in  the  cap- 
ital to  countenance  or  to  witness  the  violences  of  Cesar 
as  equally  guilty  with  those  who  should  be  found  in  his  camp. 

The  preparations  for  dislodging  the  government,  together 
with  the  actual  flight  of  Pompey,  damped  all  the  courage 
that  remained  in  any  order  or  class  of  the  people.  The 
consuls,  and  most  of  the  other  officers  of  state,  set  out  with 
their  ensigns  of  power.  All  night  the  gates  were  crowded 

*  March  of  Ancona. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  3G7 

with  senators  and  other  persons  of  rank  who  fled  on  this 
occasion ;  some  with  their  families  and  most  valuable  effects, 
others  alone,  and  distracted  by  the  general  panic,  without 
knowing  whether  they  were  to  retire,  or  to  what  fate  they 
were  leaving  their  families. 

Cesar,  in  the  mean  time,  making1  a  rapid  march  through 
Jmbria,  or  what  is  now  the  duchy  of  Urbino,  and  the 
/>icenum,  or  March  of  Ancona,  not  only  took  possession  of 
every  place  as  he  passed,  but  gained  daily  accessions  of 
strength  by  the  junction  of  the  new  levies  that  had  been 
raised  to  oppose  him.  Soldiers  are  averse  to  the  losing  side ; 
and  Pompey's  flight  put  an  end  to  his  military  power  in 
Italy.  At  Cingulum,  in  the  Picenum,  Cesar  was  joined  by 
the  twelfth  legion,  to  which,  on  his  first  motion  from  Ra- 
venna, he  had  sent  orders  to  march.  With  this  accession 
of  force,  he  advanced  to  Asculum  *  on  the  Fronto ;  and 
having  dislodged  from  thence  Lentulus  Spinther,  who 
commanded  ten  cohorts,  the  greater  part  of  these  troops 
deserted  to  him. 

Pompey  by  this  time  had  moved  from  Capua  to  Luceria, 
and  seemed  to  have  taken  the  resolution  not  only  of  aban- 
doning the  posts  that  covered  the  access  to  Rome,  but  even 
all  Italy,  to  Cesar.  The  consuls,  the  greater  part  of  the 
magistracy,  and  the  senate,  had  followed  him  to  Capua.  Here 
was  received  the  message  which  Cesar  had  given  to  Roscius 
and  to  L.  Cesar.  It  contained  several  reflections  and  in- 
sinuations in  the  highest  degree  provoking  to  Pompey; 
and  to  this  circumstance  Cesar  probably  trusted,  that  he 
should  not  be  bound  by  any  of  the  offers  he  had  made,  and 
that  the  odium  of  rejecting  the  peace  would  fall  upon  his 
enemies.  But  the  friends  of  the  commonwealth,  deeply 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  their  own  affairs,  gladly 
listened  to  any  terms  of  accommodation.  It  was  agreed 
accordingly  that  he  should  repair  to  Spain,  and  that,  his 
province  being  in  profound  peace,  he  should  reduce  his 
military  establishment.  Cesar,  on  his  part,  besides  the 
conditions  he  himself  had  offered,  was  required  to  evacuate 
all  the  towns  which  he  had  lately  seized  in  Italy  ;  and  it 
was  proposed  that  the  consuls,  niiiui-tnitcs,  and  senators, 
should  return  to  the  city,  and  from  the  usual  seat  of  gov- 
ernment give  all  the  sanction  of  public  authority  to  these 
arrangements.  From  such  appearances  it  was  not  doubted 
that  an  accommodation  must  follow. 

Cesar  therefore  was  likely  to  be  caught  in  the  snare  he 
laid  for  liis  enemies,  or  obliged  to  lay  aside  tho  disguise 


SG3  HISTORY  OF  TliR  [B,  IV. 

which  /.e  had  assumed  in  affecting  such  deszres  for  peace. 
To  avoid  either  of  these  Inconveniences,  he  objected  to  some 
of  the  conditions  which  the  opposite  party  had  subjoined  to 
his  proposals,  and  complained  of  the  silence  which  they  kept 
on  others,  as  proceeding  from  a  deliberate  purpose  to  circum- 
vent and  betray  him.  "  Pompey  will  repair  to  Spiin,"  he 
said,  "  but  when  ?  I  am  required  to  evacuate  all  the  towns 
of  Italy,  while  Pompey  and  the  whole  senate  continue  in 
arms  against  me,  and  while  my  enemies  not  only  make  new 
It-vie-:,  but  employ  for  my  destruction  legions  which  they 
have  actually  taken  away  from  my  own  army.  If  Pompey 
be  sincere  in  desiring  a  peace,  why  does  he  decline  the 
personal  interview  which  has  been  proposed  for  that  pur- 
pose ?" 

Cesar  had,  by  this  time,  advanced  with  hasty  marches  to 
Corfinium,  sat  down  under  the  walls,  and  employed  three 
days  in  fortifying  his  camp,  and  in  filling  the  magazines 
with  corn  from  the  neighbouring  country.  When  his  works 
began  to  appear  against  the  place,  Domitius  despatched 
letters  to  Pompey,  and  got  for  answer,  that  Pompey  dis- 
approved of  his  having  allowed  himself  to  be  invested  by 
Cesar,  had  foretold  him  the  bad  consequences  of  this  mea- 
sure, and  now  earnestly  exhorted  him,  if  possible,  to  extri- 
cate himself. 

This  answer  Domitius  endeavoured  to  conceal  from  his 
army ;  and  took  measures  to  get  off  in  person,  without  any 
hopes  of  preserving  the  forces  he  had  assembled  for  the 
commonwealth.  This  design  being  suspected,  the  troops 
surrounded  his  quarters  in  the  night,  took  him  prisoner, 
and  to  pay  their  court,  while  they  delivered  up  their  general 
and  surrendered  the  town,  made  offer  of  their  own  services 
to  Cesar. 

Upon  this  surrender,  Cesar  took  possession  of  the  gates, 
manned  the  walls,  and  gave  orders  that  no  person  whatever 
from  his  army  should  enter  the  place  before  it  was  day.  He 
knew,  that  besides  Domitius  and  Vibullius,  there  were  many 
senators  and  Roman  knights  now  shut  up  in  the  town. 
These  he  ordered  in  the  morning  to  be  brought  before  him, 
expostulated  with  them  on  the  subject  of  their  enmity  to 
himself,  and  their  precipitation  in  hurrying  the  state  into 
this  unnatural  war.  He  then  dismissed  them  with  the  re- 
spect that  was  due  to  Roman  citizens  of  their  rank;  and 
being  told  that  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  amassed  at 
Corfinium  for  the  support  of  the  troops,  had  been  seized  by 
hitt  people,  to  complete  this  scene  of  unexpected  moderation, 
&f  *n  exhibition  of  disinterestedness  as  well  as  of  clemency, 
^  ordered  this  money  to  be  restored  to  Domitius. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  369 

Rome  was  now  open  to  Cesar ;  but  he  thought  the  pos  • 
session  of  it  of  no  moment,  until  he  had  suppressed  the 
military  arrangements  that  were  making  in  the  country, 
and  had  decided  who  was  to  have  the  possession  of  Italy. 
He  therefore  on  the  very  day  on  which  he  became  master  of 
Corfinium,  detached  to  Sicily,  under  the  command  of  Curio, 
the  troops  that  deserted  to  him  in  making  this  conquest. 
He  himself  set  out  for  Apulia,  and,  before  sunset,  accom- 
plished a  considerable  march  ;  but  while  he  thus  urged  the 
war  with  the  greatest  rapidity,  he  sent  messengers  before 
him  to  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  party,  with  professions 
of  friendship  and  overtures  of  peace  ;  hoping  to  amuse  his 
enemies,  and  to  relax  the  diligence  of  their  military  prepara- 
tions. He  however,  continued  his  march,  and  advanced 
with  so  much  rapidity,  that,  in  order  to  avoid  him,  they  had 
no  more  than  the  time  that  was  necessary  to  cross  the 
mountains  from  Capua  to  Luceria,  to  fall  back  from  thence 
to  Canusium,  and  from  this  last  place,  without  a  halt,  to 
Brundusium.  Pompey,  soon  after  his  arrival  at  this  port, 
embarked  a  great  part  of  his  army  with  the  consuls,  while 
he  himself,  not  having  sufficient  shipping  to  transport  the 
whole,  remained  with  a  second  division  to  wait  for  the  re- 
turn of  his  ships.  In  this  posture  stood  his  affairs,  when 
Cesar,  with  six  legions,  four  of  veteran  troops,  and  two 
newly  raised  or  completed  from  those  who  came  over  to 
him  on  the  march,  arrived  at  the  gates  of  Brundusium. 
Even  here,  he  sent  a  message  to  Pompey,  containing  a 
request,  that  he  would  admit  Cesar  to  an  interview ;  and 
observing,  that  differences  are  soon  made  up  at  a  conference 
which  otherwise  might  occasion  many  journeys  and  mes- 
sages to  no  purpose. 

This  pacific  message,  as  in  other  instances,  only  consti- 
tuted a  part  in  the  military  plan  of  Cesar,  and  was  accom- 
panied with  effectual  preparations  for  a  blockade  and  a 
siege.  After  certain  works  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  of 
Brundusmm  had  been  continued  three  days,  by  the  army  of 
Cesar,  and  had  made  considerable  progress,  the  transports 
which  had  carried  the  first  division  of  Porapey's  army  re- 
turned from  Dyrrachiiim,  and,  as  the  passage  at  the  mouth 
of  the  harbour  wa«  still  open,  he  prepared  to  embark  with 
the  remainder  of  his  forces.  When  the  legions  began  to 
move  towards  the  harbour,  the  rearguard  still  endeavoured 
to  present  the  usual  appearances  on  the  ramparts,  by 
occupying  every  post  with  archers,  si i tiger*,  and  other 
tight  troops.  These  being  to  remain  in  their  post  while  the 
main  body  was  embarking,  had  orders,  at  a  signal  given,  to 
Abandon  the  walls,  and  to  repair  on  board  the  transport* 


370  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

which  wei  e  ready  to  receive  them.  The  troops  in  Brundu- 
aium  thns  began  to  embark  in  the  night,  and  so  effectually 
was  their  embarkation  secured,  that  they  had  time  to  put  off' 
from  the  mole,  and  get  under  sail.  They,  along  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  senate,  attended  by  the  officers  of  state 
and  the  ensigns  of  magistracy,  proceeded  in  their  passage 
to  Epirus  ;  thus  leaving  Cesar  in  possession  of  Italy  and  of 
the  seats  of  government,  from  which  the  world  could 
scarcely  disjoin,  in  their  idea,  the  right  to  command. 

Cesar  having,  in  this  manner,  surprised  the  republic,  and 
In  sixty  days  obliged  all  his  opponents  to  evacuate  Italy, 
and  to  leave  him  sole  master  of  the  forces  which  began  to 
be  mustered  against  him,  it  is  probable,  notwithstanding  the 
question  he  states  relating  to  the  expedience  of  following 
his  enemy  into  Epirus,  that  he  had  already  taken  his  resolu- 
tion to  consider  the  reduction  of  Spain,  as  the  next  object 
of  consequence  to  that  of  Italy.  In  that  province,  which 
was  full  of  resources,  a  regular  army  of  seven  or  eight 
legions  had  been  for  some  time  formed,  with  an  evident 
purpose  to  keep  him  in  awe.  He  was  threatened  therefore 
with  the  most  immediate  danger  from  thence.  Some 
arrangements  too  were  yet  wanting  for  the  security  of 
Italy.  The  professions  which  he  had  made  of  pacific  dis- 
positions, and  of  zeal  for  the  republic,  were  to  be  confirmed 
by  showing  a  proper  respect  to  the  forms  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  by  endeavouring  to  restore  a  government  which 
he  had  actually  overthrown. 

For  these  reasons,  Cesar  contented  himself,  for  the  pre- 
sent, with  having  ordered  shipping  to  be  provided  at  the 
port  of  Brundusium,  that  he  might  amuse  the  enemy  with 
appearances  of  his  intending  to  continue  the  war  on  that 
side.  Notwithstanding  his  pacific  declarations,  and  his 
ostentation  of  clemency  on  every  occasion,  the  people  still 
trembled  when  they  saw  almost  every  citizen  of  reputation 
and  honour  obliged  to  fly  from  the  seats  of  government, 
and,  in  their  place,  collected  from  different  quarters  of 
Italy,  every  bankrupt,  every  outlaw,  and  every  person  of 
infamous  character.  These  being  at  variance  with  the 
laws  of  their  country,  had  flocked  to  Cesar,  and  were  re- 
ceived by  him  under  the  denomination  of  the  injured  and 
the  oppressed  citizens,  whose  wrongs  he  was  come  to 
redress. 

With  this  company,  still  multiplying  around  him,  having 
given  orders  to  secure  Brundusium  from  the  sea,  and  posted 
there,  and  at  Sipontum  and  Tarentum,  each  a  legion  ;  and 
having  ordered  ships  from  every  part  of  the  coasts  of  Italy 
and  Gaul,  he  set  out  for  Spain,  intending,  while  the  troops, 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  371 

ivitb  whom  he  had  overrun  Italy,  took  some  repose  in 
quarters,  and  while  those  who  were  destined  for  the  service 
in  Spain  were  on  the  march,  that  he  himself  should  visit 
Home,  and  observe  the  aspect  of  his  party. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Cesar  in  the  suburbs  of  the  metropo- 
lis, such  of  the  senators  as  were  in  the  city,  or  in  the 
neighbourhood,  assembled  at  his  summons.  He  opened  the 
meeting  by  enumerating  the  wrongs  he  had  received,  and 
by  loading  his  opponents  with  the  guilt  of  the  present  war. 
"  He  exhorted  the  senate  not  to  desert  the  common- 
wealth, nor  to  oppose  such  as,  in  concert  with  him,  might 
endeavour  to  restore  the  government ;  but  if  they  should 
shrink  in  this  arduous  task,  he  should  not  press  it  upon 
them.  He  knew  how  to  act  for  himself.  If  his  opinion 
were  followed,  deputies  should  be  now  sent  from  the  senate 
to  Pompey,  with  intreaties,  that  he  would  spare  the  repub- 
lic. He  knew  that  Pompey  had  formerly  objected  to  his 
having  any  such  deputation  sent  to  himself,  considering 
such  advances  as  a  concession  of  right  in  him  to  whom  they 
were  made,  or  of  fear  in  those  who  made  them.  These," 
he  said,  "  were  the  reflections  of  a  narrow  mind ;  for  his 
own  part,  as  he  wished  to  overcome  his  enemies  in  the 
field,  so  he  wished  to  excel  them  in  acts  of  generosity  and 
candour." 

Such  were  the  colours  in  which  this  artful  man  endea- 
voured to  disguise  his  cause ;  and  while  he  took  effectual 
measures  to  maintain  it  by  force,  employed  likewise  an  in- 
sinuation, and  an  eloquence  not  less  dangerous  than  his 
sword.  This  policy  was  the  reverse  of  that  pursued  by 
Pompey,  who,  supposing  himself  entrusted  with  the  powers 
and  severities  of  the  law,  had  threatened  to  employ  those 
powers  and  severities  to  the  utmost  extent  against  every 
person  who  staid  behind  him  at  Rome.  Proscription,  in- 
deed, and  massacre  of  those  who  abandoned  the  common- 
wealth were  the  ordinary  language  at  his  quarters. 

Cesar,  however,  meant  to  make  this  remnant  of  a  legal 
assembly  the  tools  of  every  ungracious  or  improper  mea- 
sure he  had  occasion  to  execute,  and,  in  particular,  to  avail 
himself  of  their  authority  in  sei/ing  the  public  money ;  and 
now  moved  that  the  doors  of  the  public  repositories  should 
be  opened:  and  that  the  public  money  should  be  issued 
from  thence  to  defray  tha  expense  of  the  war.  To  this 
nioti  >n  the  tnbune  Metellus  Celer  opposed  his  negative ; 
and  Cesar,  disdaining  any  longer  to  wear  a  m;isk  which 
subjected  him  to  the  observance  of  insignificant  forms,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  treasury,  and  forced  the  doors. 

After  this  act  of  violence,  it  appears  thut  Cesar  distrusted 


372  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV 

the  affections  of  the  people.  He  declined  to  harangue  them 
in  a  public  audience ;  he  even  avoided  the  public  vie\v 
altogether,  and  having  passed  but  a  few  days  at  Rome,  set 
out  for  Spain  sullen  and  displeased.  Marcus  Emilias  Lepi- 
dus,  who,  as  has  been  observed,  was  at  this  time  pretor,  and 
the  officer  of  highest  rank  then  at  Rome,  was  left  to  govern 
the  city.  Mark  Antony  had  the  command  qf  Cesar's  forces 
in  Italy ;  and  by  the  use  which  he  made  of  his  power,  in- 
creased the  dismal  apprehensions  of  the  public. 

Soon  after  hostilities  had  commenced,  Cotta  had  been 
sent  to  command  for  the  republic  in  Sardinia,  and- Cat o  to 
command  in  Sicily.  Cesar,  when  about  to  carry  the  Avar 
into  Spain,  thought  it  necessary  to  get  the  possession  of 
these  islands,  and  ordered  Valerius,  with  a  proper  force, 
into  Sardinia,  and  Curio,  with  three  legions,  to  attack  Cato 
in  Sicily.  The  Sardinians,  hearing  that  one  of  Cesar's 
officers  was  appointed,  in  his  name,  to  take  possession  of 
their  island,  declared  for  his  interest ;  and  as  for  Cato  he 
despaired  of  being  able  to  preserve  his  station,  discontinued 
his  military  preparations,  and  withdrew  from  it.  Thia 
officer  had  often  disapproved  of  Pompey's  conduct ;  and  on 
this  occasion,  complained  particularly  of  the  defenceless 
state  in  which  he  had  suffered  the  republic  to  be  surprised 
in  all  its  possessions. 

The  antagonists  of  Caesar,  without  any  apprehension 
of  the  disposition  of  his  forces,  and  perfectly  secure  before 
hostilities  commenced,  were  thus  completely  surprised, 
overwhelmed,  and  routed  in  every  quarter  on  which  they 
attempted  to  make  any  defence.  Armies  indeed  had  been 
formed  in  Italy,  according  to  a  saying  of  Pompey,  at  the 
stamp  of  his  foot ;  but  they  were  armies  that  served  the 
purpose  of  his  enemies,  not  that  of  the  republic,  or  his 
own  ;  and  while  Caesar  himself,  with  the  strength  of  the 
veteran  legions  with  which  he  had  conquered  Gaul,  hast- 
ened into  Spain  to  reduce  xvhat  was  the  most  formidable 
part  of  his  rival's  power,  his  officers  were  detached  with 
separate  bodies  of  these  newly  acquired  troops,  into  Sar- 
dinia, Sicily,  and  Africa. 

Pompey,  although  he  had  never  visited  his  government 
in  person,  nor  sought  for  occasions  of  war,  as  Caesar,  in 
order  to  forn.  bis  army  and  inure  them  to  service,  had 
done  in  Gaul,  had  nevertheless  formed  a  great  military  es- 
tablishment, consisting  of  seven  Roman  legions,  with  five 
thousand  horse,  and  eighty  cohorts  of  provincial  infantry, 
equal  in  number  to  eight  legions  more.  They  were  com- 
manded by  three  lieutenants,  Varro,  Petreius,  and  Afrani- 
us.  The  first  commanded,  from  the  river  Guadiana  west- 


Ca.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  373 

ward  to  the  extremities  of  Lusitania*  and  Gallicia;  the 
second,  from  the  Gundiana  eastward  to  the  mountains  of 
Murcia;  and  the  third,  from  thence  to  the  Pyrennees. 
Varro  affected  inditterem-e  in  the  quarrel,  or  an  equal  re- 
gard to  the  opposite  parties  concerned  in  it.  The  other 
two  engaged  with  more  zeal  in  the  cause.  They  deter- 
mined, in  concert  with  Vibullius,  to  leave  Varro  in  the 
western  province,  while  they  themselves  drew  the  principal 
part  of  their  force  towards  the  eastern  frontier ;  Afranius 
with  three  legions,  Petreius  with  two  more,  together 
with  five  thousand  horse,  and  eighty  cohorts  of  provincial 
infantry. 

Such  were  the  dispositions  that  were  making  in  Spain, 
when  Cesar,  having  expelled  his  rival  from  Italy,  set  out 
for  his  army  now  in  the  province  of  Narbonne.  Being  to 
pass  by  Marseilles,  he  intended  to  take  possession  of  that 
city;  but  the  inhabitants  were  already  disposed  to  favour 
his  antagonists,  and  shut  their  gates  against  him.  This 
ancient  Greek  colony,  after  having  long  defended  their  set- 
tlement against  the  rude  tribes  in  their  neighbourhood,  had 
placed  themselves  at  last  under  the  protection  of  the  Ro- 
mans; but  with  a  reserve  of  all  their  immunities,  and  an 
exemption  from  all  the  burdens  of  a  Roman  province. 
Cesar  propped  to  have  entered  their  city  as  a  neutral  place ; 
but  they  /ejected  his  proposal,  assigning  as  their  reason, 
that  in  every  case  where  the  Romans  were  divided  among 
themselves,  every  ally  in  their  situation  must  so  far  pre- 
gerve  their  neutrality,  as  not  to  receive  the  forces  of  either 
party  within  their  walls. 

However,  in  a  few  days  after  this  answer  was  given  to 
Cesar,  a  squadron  in  the  interest  of  Pompey  were  received 
into  the  harbour  of  the  place.  Upon  its  arrival,  the  people 
of  this  republic  called  in  to  their  assistance  the  force  of  some 
neighbouring  cantons  from  the  mountains ;  and  took  every 
other  precaution  that  was  necessary,  in  case  they  should  be 
attacked,  to  enable  them  to  make  a  vigorous  defence. 

Cesar  being  greatly  provoked,  invested  the  town  with 
an  army  of  three  legions ;  and  having  ordered  somo  >hip 
to  be  built  on  the  Rhone,  prepared  to  assail  it  at  once  l\ 
»ea  and  by  land.  He  committed  the  attack  by  lain  I  tc 
Trebonius;  and  that  from  the  sea  to  Docimus  Brutus. 
But,  while  he  was  making  these  preparations,  a  report 
prevailed  that  Pompey  win  passing  into  Africa,  and  in- 
tended,  with  the  troops  which  were  in  that  province,  and 
A  body  of  Numidian  cavalry,  to  reinforce,  and  to  take  thw 

•  Portugal. 


374  MiaiOKY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

command  of  his  army  in  Spain.  Cesar,  appearing  to  credit 
the  report,  ordered  Fabius,  who  commanded  his  forces  at 
Narbonne,  to  advance  into  the  Pyrennees,  and  penetrate 
into  Spain.  This  officer  accordingly,  having-  forced  the 
passes  of  the  Pyrennees,  penetrated  to  the  Segra,  and  took 
post  on  the  right  of  this  river,  in  front  ot  the  united  armies 
of  Afranius  and  Petreius,  who  were  encamped  near  the 
town  of  Ilerda. 

In  a  few  weeks  Cesar  himself  arrived  in  the  camp  of 
Fabius,  and  proceeded,  as  usual,  to  act  on  the  offensive, 
He  advanced  with  his  army  in  three  divisions  to  the  foot  ot 
a  hill  on  which  the  Spanish  army  was  encamped,  and  while 
they  continued  to  observe,  and  endeavoured  to  penetrate 
his  intentions,  he  broke  ground,  and  made  a  lodgment 
for  himself  in  that  place  There  he  fortified  his  camp. 
Being  now  in  possession  of  a  post  within  four  hundred 
paces,  or  less  than  half  a  mile  of  the  enemy's  lines ;  and  hav- 
ing a  view  of  the  ground  which  lay  between  their  camp 
and  the  town  of  Ilerda,  extending  about  three  hundred 
paces,  and  mostly  plain,  with  a  small  height  in  the  middle 
of  it,  he  endeavoured  to  seize  this  height ;  and  knowing 
that  the  enemy  lodged  their  magazines  and  stores  in  Ilerda, 
proposed  to  cut  off  their  communication  with  the  town.  In 
this  attempt  a  detachment  of  his  army  was  repulsed  and 
beat  back  to  certain  heights  in  their  rear.  And  while  the 
leaders  of  the  Spanish  army  probably  committed  an  error 
in  not  redoubling  their  blow,  or  remained  in  suspense, 
Cesar  issued  from  his  camp  with  a  fresh  legion  to  support 
the  flying  division  of  his  army,  obliged  the  enemy  to  retire 
in  their  turn,  and  having  overtaken  them  before  they  could 
reach  their  camp,  obliged  them  to  take  refuge  under  the 
walls  of  the  town.  Thither  the  troops,  with  whom  Cesar 
had  renewed  the  action,  flushed  with  victory,  had  followed 
the  enemy,  and  got  into  a  situation  in  which  they  could  not 
gain  any  advantage ;  and  after  some  hours  of  serious  skir- 
mishing were  obliged  to  retire  with  loss.  In  a  few  days 
after  this  miscarriage,  the  army  of  Cesar  suffered  a  worse 
and  more  alarming  calamity.  The  summer  being  far  ad- 
vanced, and  the  snow  on  the  Pyrennees  melting,  all  the 
rivers  which  are  supplied  from  thence,  rose  on  a  sudden  to 
their  greatest  height.  The  Segra  carried  off  two  bridges 
erected  by  Fabius,  and  baffled  all  the  endeavours  that  were 
used  to  restore  them.  As  often  as  any  attempt  was  mad* 
for  this  purpose,  the  work  was  interrupted  by  the  enemy 
from  the  opposite  bank,  or  the  materials  were  swept  away 
by  the  flood.  Neither  the  Segra  nor  the  Cinca  were  pass- 
able, and  the  country  between  them,  thoucrh  extending  in 


CH.  V.]  ivwin^N  REPUBLIC.  J1?5 

breadth  about  thirty  miles,  being  exhausted,  could  no  longer 
furnish  any  supply  of  provisions  to  Cesar's  camp.  About 
the  time  that  the  army  began  to  feel  their  distress,  a  large 
convoy  which  arrived  from  Gaul,  was  attacked  by  Afra- 
nius,  and  with  great  loss  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the 
neighbouring  mountains. 

In  consequence  of  this  disaster,  corn  sold  in  Cesar's  ramp 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  shillings  a  peck.  All  their  attempts  to 
procure  a  supply  were  frustrated  by  the  difficulties  of  their 
situation,  or  by  the  vigilance  of  the  enemy.  Cesar  had  no 
immediate  prospect  of  relief.  The  Spanish  army  triumphed 
in  their  good  fortune,  and  sent  exaggerated  accounts  of 
their  advantage  to  all  parts  of  Spain,  to  Italy,  and  to  Mace- 
donia. Many  persons,  who  had  hitherto  hesitated  in  the 
choice  of  their  party,  were  now  determined. 

The  triumphs,  however,  which  anticipate  events  are  often 
deceitful ;  and,  by  the  overweening  security  and  confidence 
which  they  inspire,  give  an  able  enemy  great  advantage. 
Afranius  and  Peti  eius,  while  they  trusted  to  the  ordinary 
course  of  the  seasons,  were  not  sufficiently  upon  their 
guard  against  the  superior  resources  of  so  able  an  adver- 
sary. They  suffered  him  to  make  a  lodgment  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  and  to  reinforce  this  party,  until,  having  an 
entire  legion  intrenched  on  that  side,  he  ventured  to  em- 
ploy his  carpenters  openly  in  constructing  a  bridge,  which 
was  begun  at  once  from  both  sides  of  the  river.  This  work 
again  gave  him  access  to  the  left  of  the  Segra,  where  he 
surprised  some  of  the  enemy's  parties,  and  procured  imme- 
diate relief  by  a  supply  of  provisions  to  his  own  camp.  At 
this  time,  too,  newa  was  received  of  a  naval  fight  on  the 
coast  of  Gaul,  in  which  his  fleet,  under  Decimus  Brutus, 
had  defeated  that  of  the  enemy,  and  given  a  speedy  pros- 
pect of  the  reduction  of  Marseilles.  The  report,  together 
with  the  disappointment  he  had  recently  given  to  the  hopes 
of  his  enemies,  had  at  once  all  the  effects  of  victory,  and 
made  him  appear  more  formidable  than  he  was  supposed  to 
ho,  oven  before  the  distresses  which  he  had  lately  experi- 
ence I. 

In  conjunction  with  the  natives,  who  were  now  become 
his  allies,  Cesar  again  found  himself  in  condition  to  act  on 
the  offensive.  The  enemy  resolved  to  abandon  their  pre- 
sent station,  and  retired  beyond  the  Ebro,  where  the  peo- 
pl.»,  either  from  fear  or  affection,  were  still  in  their  interest. 
They  proceeded  to  the  execution  of  this  purpose  with  much 
seeming  precaution  and  foresight.  On  the  first  day,  they 
filed  off  by  a  bridge  they  had  laid  over  the  Segra  ;  and  fixed 
on  a  post  at  which  they  might  halt  on  the  left  bank,  and 


376  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

make  the  proper  dispositions  to  continue  their  march.  This 
post  they  sent  two  legions  before  them  to  occupy  and  to 
secure. 

Having1  taken  these  preparatory  steps,  they  decamped, 
denied  without  molestation  through  the  town  of  Her  da, 
and  came  to  the  ground  on  which  they  had  taken  care  to 
secure  their  reception ;  here  they  halted  until  the  middle  of 
the  night,  when  they  again  were  in  motion.  They  had  a 
plain  of  some  miles  before  them,  bounded  by  a  ridge  of  hill* 
which  they  were  to  pass  in  their  way  to  the  Ebro.  They 
were  exposed  to  Cesar's  light  troops  in  crossing  this  plain<; 
and  endeavoured  to  reach  the  mountains,  where  they  could, 
by  securing  the  passes  in  their  rear,  effectually  prevent  any 
further  attack  from  the  enemy.  At  break  of  day  the  Span- 
ish army,  in  consequence  of  the  frequent  interruptions  they 
had  received,  were  still  to  be  seen  from  Cesar's  camp.  The 
army  of  Cesar  being  spectators  of  this  scene  became  ex- 
tremely impatient,  and  with  the  greatest  ardour  pressed  to 
be  led  against  the  enemy.  Cesar  instantly  made  his  dispo- 
sitions to  pass  the  river.  By  placing  lines  of  horse  in  the 
river  above  and  below  the  ford,  to  break  the  force  of  the 
stream,  and  to  save  those  who  might  be  overpowered  by 
the  strength  of  the  current,  he  passed  his  infantry  without 
the  loss  of  a  man.  They  had  a  circuit  of  six  miles  to  make, 
hi  order  to  avoid  the  town  of  Ilerda ;  but  notwithstanding 
this  delay,  and  the  advantage  which  Afranius  and  Petreius 
had  gained  by  beginning  their  march  at  midnight,  and  by 
their  not  being  discovered  until  it  was  day,  such  were  the 
interruptions  given  by  the  cavalry,  and  the  speed  with 
which  the  legions  of  Cesar  advanced,  that  they  overtook  the 
enemy's  rear  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  and  occasioned 
at  once  a  general  halt  in  every  part  of  their  column. 

Petreius  and  Afranius,  stunned  by  the  unexpected  arrival 
of  Cesar  at  the  head  of  his  whole  army,  formed  on  a  rising 
ground  to  receive  him  ;  but  Cesar  did  not  think  it  necessary 
to  attack  them  when  in  order  of  battle.  He  took  his 
ground,  however,  so  near  them,  that  he  could  profit  by 
every  advantage  they  gave  him,  and  in  every  attempt  they 
should  make  to  change  their  situation,  could  push  them  into 
all  the  disorders  of  a  general  rout. 

In  this  position  of  the  two  armies,  the  Spaniards  deter- 
mined to  halt  and  wait  for  the  return  of  night.  They  had 
now  no  more  than  five  miles  to  pass  on  the  plain,  and  hoped, 
by  a  rapid  motion  in  the  night,  to  traverse  this  space  before 
Cesar  could  overtake  them,  or  before  he  could  oblige  them 
to  halt  any  where  short  of  the  mountains, 

Both  parties  appeared  to  be  fixed  on  their  ground  for  tlia 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  377 

night,  when  Cesar  got  information  that  the  enemy  were  in 
motion,  and  ordered  every  trumpet  to  sound,  as  if  he  were 
actually  in  motion.  This  feint,  however  slight,  had  its 
effect ;  the  enemy  halted,  and  remained  on  this  ground  all 
night  and  the  following  day,  perplexed  with  irresolution 
and  various  counsels.  They  then  determined,  that  before 
so  vigilant  an  enemy  it  was  safer  to  march  by  day  than  by 
night ;  and  in  this  mind  they  remained  yet  a  second  night 
In  the  present  position. 

In  this  interval  Cesar,  having  leisure  to  visit  the  country 
over  which  they  were  to  pass,  found  it  practicable  to  turn 
their  flank  and  get  to  the  hills  before  them.  He  accord- 
ingly moved  in  the  night,  and  at  break  of  day  was  in  full 
march  to  reach  the  mountains.  On  observing  the  move- 
ment which  Cesar  was  making,  Afranius  advanced  rapidly 
in  the  same  direction,  and  sent  a  considerable  party  to  try  the 
ascent  of  the  mountains  at  a  different  place,  and  to  gain  the 
summits  behind  Cesar  ;  in  hopes  that,  if  this  way  was  prac- 
ticable, he  might  follow  with  his  whole  army,  and  descend 
from  thence  to  the  Ebro.  But  the  party  he  employed  on 
this  service  was,  in  presence  of  both  armies,  surrounded  by 
Cesar's  horse,  and  put  to  the  sword.  The  rest  of  the  army, 
without  making  any  attempt  to  rescue  their  friends,  beheld 
this  scene  with  a  kind  of  torpid  dejection.  They  dropped 
their  arms,  and  staggered  in  their  ranks.  Their  leaders 
also  were  discouraged,  and  led  them  back  to  the  camp 
which  they  had  left  in  the  morning,  and  to  the  melancholy 
possession  of  tents  and  of  baggage,  which  they  had  been 
willing  to  abandon,  in  order  to  efl'ect  their  escape. 

Cesar  having  left  proper  guards  to  secure  the  passes  of 
the  mountains,  followed  the  enemy,  and  took  post,  as  before, 
BO  near  them,  that  they  could  not  move  without  being 
exposed  to  his  insults.  Afranius  and  Pctreius  entered 
therefore  into  anxious  deliberation  on  the  choice  of  a  re- 
treat, by  which  they  might  soonest  get  beyond  reach  of  an 
enemy  who  pressed  them  with  unremitted  alarms.  They 
hesitated  whether  they  should  return  to  Ilerda,  where  they 
still  had  some  magazines,  or  should  attempt  to  reach  Tar- 
raco  *  on  their  left,  at  the  distance  of  about  fifty  mi.es. 
They  chose  the  first,  as  promising  the  nearest  and  most 
immediate  relief  from  their  present  distresses.  They  ac- 
cordingly, without  any  precaution,  decamped,  and  directed 
their  march  to  Ilerda.  The  Spanish  infantry  were  now 
more  exposed  than  they  had  been  on  any  of  their  former 
marches  ;  for  their  cavalry  had  been  so  often  discomfited, 

•  T»rn 


878  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

and  had  lost  courage  so  much,  that  they  could  not  be  kept 
to  their  place  in  the  column,  and  were  now  actually  re- 
ceived for  safety  into  the  centre  of  the  infantry ;  the  rear 
was  therefore  cruelly  annoyed  by  Cesar's  horse,  supported 
by  the  whole  force  of  his  legions.  Cesar  had  more  than 
once  a  fair  opportunity  to  attack  them,  and,  with  little 
doubt  of  the  event,  to  terminate  the  war  by  a  battle ;  but 
he  persisted  in  his  purpose  of  forcing  this  unfortunate  army 
to  surrender  without  any  loss  or  hazard  to  himself.  In  thia 
mind  he  continued  to  observe  them  with  a  degree  of  in- 
sulting indifference,  till  at  length  he  formed  a  design  to  cut 
off  all  their  hopes  at  once  by  a  line  of  circumvallation.  In 
conducting  or  covering  this  work,  his  legions  were  com- 
monly under  arms.  And  the  enemy,  sensible  of  the  ex- 
tremity to  which  they  were  soon  likely  to  be  reduced, 
advanced  in  front  of  their  camp  to  interrupt  him  ;  and  there 
might  have  decided  their  fate  by  an  action  upon  equal 
terms.  But  they  had  no  courage  left,  and  retired  again 
within  their  intrenchment. 

But  in  that  situation  their  distresses  in  a  little  time  became 
insufferable.  After  four  days  had  passed  in  their  camp 
without  water  or  sustenance  of  any  sort,  their  leaders  de- 
sired an  interview  with  Cesar,  and  came  to  an  accommoda- 
tion with  him.  He  declared  that  "he  demanded  no  more 
than  peace  ;  his  antagonists  should  go  unhurt,  provided 
they  left  the  province,  and  became  bound  not  to  serve  his 
enemies  for  the  future  against  him ;  that  no  one  should  be 
forced  to  take  any  active  part  on  his  side ;  that  all  who 
committed  no  injury  against  him  should  be  considered  as 
his  friends  ;  and  that  every  man  now  in  his  power  should 
be  at  liberty,  without  any  other  conditions  than  these." 
His  speech  was  received  by  the  late  partisans  of  his  rival 
with  evident  signs  of  pleasure.  To  be  discharged  after  a 
certain  period  of  tire  most  faithful  services  was  all  that  a 
Roman  soldier,  in  the  ordinary  times  of  the  republic,  could 
claim.  To  receive  this  favour  at  the  hands  of  a  victorious 
enemy,  by  whom  they  expected  to  be  treated  as  captives, 
gave  sudden  and  unexpected  joy. 

Varro  yet  remained  in  the  western  province  of  Spain ; 
but  he,  on  the  report  of  what  had  happened  to  Afraniua 
and  Petreius,  agreed  to  surrender  the  forces  he  command- 
ed, both  by  sea  and  by  land,  and  was  received  at  Corduba. 
Here  Cesar  held  a  general  convention  of  the  province ;  and 
having  thanked  the  people  for  the  favours  they  had  shown 
to  his  cause,  he  remitted  the  contributions,  and  withdrew 
all  the  burdens  which  Varro,  acting  under  the  authority  of 
Pompey,  had  imposed  upon  tnem. 


CB.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  379 


CHAP.  VI. 

The  lurrfnder  of  Marseille*— Cesar  named  Dictator — Qurl'.i  a  mutiny 
at  Placentia— Cesar  with  Serviliut  Itauricut  Consuls— Fnrcet  and  Dit- 
potition  of  Pampey — Departure  of  Ceiar  to  Brundusium  —  Tranipotlt 
thfflrtt  division  of  His  army  to  Acroceraunui— Message  to  Pompey,  and 
their  teveral  Operation*— The  linei  of  Dyrrachium — Cftar  bajjltd  in 
his  attempt  to  invest  Pompey— Action  and  defeat  of  Cesar — His  Retreat 
— Starch  of  both  Armies  into  Thtualy  —Battle  of  Pharsalia. 

TH«  city  of  Marseilles  had  not  surrendered  to  the  forces 
which  Cesar  had  left  under  the  command  of  Trebonius  and 
Decimus  Brutus  to  besiege  it.  The  victory  already  men- 
tioned, and  which  contributed  so  much  to  the  reputation  of 
Cesar's  arms,  while  he  lay  before  Ilerda,  was  the  result  of 
a  severely  contested  naval  engagement,  in  which  the  Mar- 
sellians  lost  nine  of  their  ships.  By  this  event  they  lost 
the  superiority  at  sea,  and  turned  their  whole  attention  to 
the  defence  of  their  city.  After  some  vigorous  sallies,  and 
the  exertion  of  much  ingenuity  and  perseverance,  the  in- 
habitants perceived  the  progress  of  the  besiegers,  and  de- 
spaired of  success.  They  accordingly  made  signals  of  truce, 
and  sent  to  beseech  Trebonius  that  he  would  suspend  his 
operations,  and  wait  for  the  arrival  of  Cesar,  in  whose 
clemency  they  hoped  to  find  some  protection  against  the 
fury  of  troops,  who  had  already  threatened  the  inhabitants 
with  a  massacre. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Cesar  arrived  from 
Spain,  and  expecting,  in  the  present  contest  for  empire,  to 
profit  as  much  by  the  reputation  of  his  clemency,  as  by  the 
terror  of  his  arms,  listened  to  the  supplications  of  the  people 
of  Marseilles,  and  took  possession  of  the  town  without  any 
act  of  resentment  or  severity  whatever.  While  he  was 
yet  at  this  place,  he  had  accounts  from  Rome,  that  his  party 
in  the  city  had  procured  an  act  of  the  people  to  vest  him 
with  the  power  of  dictator.  The  ceremony  of  his  nomina- 
tion had,  in  the  absence  of  both  consuls,  been  performed  by 
Marcus  ^milius  Lepidus,  then  pretor  in  office. 

Cesar  being  thus  raised,  though  by  an  irregular  step,  to  n 
legal  place  in  the  commonwealth,  hastened  to  Rome,  in 
order  to  be  invested,  for  the  first  time,  with  the  ch/iracter 
of  dictator.  In  his  way  he  was  stopped  at  Placeutia  by 
some  disorders  which  threatened  a  mutiny  among  the 
troops  who  were  assembled  at  that  place.  The  legions, 
dated  by  victory,  and  filled  with  asen<e  of  their  own  im- 
i,ii-lMHc«  in  a  contest  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire. 


330  HISTOItV  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

were  become  impatient  of  discipline,  and  in  haste  to  avail 
themselves  of  that  military  government  they  \vere  employed 
to  establish.  In  entering  Italy  they  treated  Roman  citizens 
as  their  subjects,  and  the  country  us  taeir  property.  Being 
restrained,  they  resented  the  severities  which  were  practised 
against  them,  entered  into  cabals,  and  even  talked  of 
abandoning  Cesar,  and  of  declaring  for  Pompey.  Here, 
however,  the  usual  courage  and  ability  of  this  singular  man 
supported  him.  He  affected  to  believe,  that  the  nirdb  legion 
were  the  principal  authors  of  this  mutiny.  He  ordered  » 
few  of  them  for  immediate  execution,  and  boldly  dismissed 
the  whole  of  the  legion  from  his  service.  The  remainder 
of  the  army,  having  thus  obtained  an  implied  exculpation, 
in  token  of  their  own  innocence,  vied  with  each  other  in 
applauding  the  justice  of  their  general. 

With  a  considerable  accession  of  authority,  acquired  by 
his  success  in  quelling  this  mutiny,  Cesar  proceeded  to 
Rome,  where  he  assumed  the  title  and  ensigns  of  dictator, 
being  the  first  example  of  any  person,  since  the  abdication 
of  Sylla,  entrusted  with  this  alarming  power.  It  was  said 
to  be  conferred  upon  him,  however,  merely  in  compliance 
with  form ;  and  that  there  might  be  a  proper  officer,  in  the 
absence  of  both  the  consuls,  to  preside  at  the  elections.  In 
the  interval  that  followed,  before  their  installation,  he  con- 
tinued to  assemble  the  people  in  the  character  of  dictator, 
and  obtained  some  laws  respecting  the  times,  and  the  dis- 
tracted state  of  public  affairs.  Credit  and  trade  were  at  an 
alarming  stand ;  he  procured  an  act  to  facilitate  the  recov- 
ery of  debts,  by  delivering  the  effects  of  the  debtor  to  be 
divided  among  his  creditors,  upon  an  estimate  of  what  the 
different  subjects  might  have  been  sold  for  at  the  time  that 
the  war  broke  out. 

Many  being  supposed  to  hoard  great  sums  of  money,  as 
the  only  means  of  preserving  it  from  the  violence  of  the 
times,  or  being  unwilling  to  lend  on  such  securities  as  were 
then  to  be  had,  Cesar  procured  another  act,  by  which  any 
person  was  forbid  to  have  in  his  possession,  at  once,  above 
sixty  thousand  Roman  money. 

He  obtained  a  general  act  of  indemnity,  from  which  Milo 
alone  was  excepted,  restoring  persons  of  every  denomina- 
tion, who,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  lay  under  the 
censure  of  the  law,  and  were  in  exile  for  corrupt  practices 
in  the  state.  He  opened  the  city  at  once  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  by  a  single  vote  gave  them 
a  title  to  be  enrolled  with  the  people  of  Rome  as  members 
of  the  republic.  In  these,  and  in  other  affairs  of  less  mo- 
m«ut.  while  his  troops  were  in  motion  through  Italy,  he 


CB.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  1S1 

employed  a  few  days  in  the  city,  and  being  ready  to  depart, 
resigned  the  power  of  dictator.  He  was  now  about  to  as- 
sume the  office  of  leg.il  magistrate,  and  to  appear  in  the 
character  of  Roman  consul  against  those  who,  lately  trust* 
ing  to  the  name  and  authority  of  the  republic  with  wliir.h 
they  were  vested,  had  treated  himself  and  his  adherents  as 
rebels. 

The  competitors  in  the  famous  contest  now  at  issue  wen- 
in  or  but  a  little  past  the  prime  of  life  :  Pompey  was  fifty- 
seven,  and  Cesar  fifty.  The  first  had  been  ear\y  dis- 
tinguished as  an  officer,  and  for  many  years  had  enjoyed  a 
degree  of  consideration,  with  which  that  of  any  other 
Roman  citizen  was  not  allowed  to  compare.  His  reputa- 
tion, however,  in  some  measure,  had  sunk,  and  that  of 
Cesar  risen  on  the  first  shocks  of  the  present  war ;  but  the 
balance  was  not  yet  absolutely  settled,  and  the  minds  of 
many  were  held  in  anxious  suspense.  Cesar,  wherever  h» 
had  acted  in  person,  had  always  prevailed ;  but  where  he 
was  not  present,  his  affairs  wore  a  less  promising  aspect. 

His  forces  under  Curio  had  acquired  an  easy  possession  of 
Sicily;  and  this  officer," :  encouraged  by  his  first  success, 
transported  two  legions  into  Africa,  found  Varus  encamped 
near  Utica,  obliged  him  to  retire  into  the  town,  and  was 
preparing  to  besiege  it,  whe.n  he  received  intelligence  that 
Juba,  king  of  Numidia,  was'  advancing  to  its  relief  with  all 
the  powers  of  his  kingdom. 

He  afterwards,  however,  was  informed  by  some  deserters 
from  the  Numidian  camp  that  Juba,  with  the  main  body  of 
his  army,  had  been  recalled  to  defend  his  own  dominions ; 
and  that  only  Sabura,  one  of  his  generals,  with  a  small 
division,  was  come  to  give  what  support  he  could  to  the 
party  of  Pompey  in  Africa.  Upon  this  information,  Curio 
formed  a  design  to  intercept  the  Numidian  general  before 
he  could  be  joined  by  Varus ;  and  marched  in  the  night  to 
attack  the  enemy,  where  he  was  informed  that  they  lay  OD 
the  banks  of  the  Bagrada.  His  cavalry  being  advanced, 
fell  in  with  the  Numidian  horse,  and  put  them  to  flight. 
Encouraged  by  this  advant.-ige,  he  hastened  his  mar?h  to 
complete  the  victory;  and  Sabura,  by  whose  art  the  lasi 
intelligence  had  been  conveyed  to  him,  likewise,  after  a 
little  resistance,  fled  before  him.  By  this  means,  Curio  was 
gradually  ensnared  into  the  midst  of  Juba's  forces,  was  sur- 
rounded, and  attacked  on  every  side.  He  attempted,  in 
vain,  to  take  refuge  on  a  height  which  lu>  had  in  view,  and, 
with  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  u  as  put  to  the  sword. 

About  the  same  time,  Dolabdla,  to  whom  Cesar  had 
given  thn  command  both  of  his  sea  and  l»nd  forces  on  th« 
H  H 


382  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

coast  of  Illyricum,  was,  by  Marcus  Octavius  and  Scriboniua 
Libo,  expelled  from  thence ;  and  Caius  Antonius,  attempt- 
ing to  support  Dolabella,  was  shut  up  in  a  small  island,  and, 
with  his  party,  made  prisoners. 

The  principal  storm,  however,  with  which  the  new 
government  was  threatened,  appeared  on  the  side  of  Mace- 
donia. In  this  country,  Pompey  himself  was  now  at  the 
head  of  a  force  amounting  to  fifty-five  thousand  legionary 
troops,  eight  thousand  irregular  infantry,  and  ten  thousand 
six  hundred  horse.  In  all  seventy-three  thousand  six 
hundred.  He  had  likewise  assembled  a  fleet  amounting  to 
above  eight  hundred  galleys,  of  which  Bibulus  had  the 
chief  command,  with  orders  to  guard  the  passage  from  Italy 
to  Greece,  and  to  obstruct  the  communications  of  the  enemy 
by  the  Ionian  sea. 

Pompey  had  likewise  formed  large  magazines  of  corn 
from  Thessaly,  Asia,  Egypt,  Crete,  and  Cyrene.  The 
principal  resort  of  his  land  forces  was  at  Berrhcea,  on  the 
fertile  plains  between  the  Axius  and  Haliacmon,  that  run 
into  the  bay  of  Thermae.  The  Roman  senate  was  repre- 
sented at  Thessalonica  by  two  hundred  of  that  body,  who, 
together  with  the  two  consuls,  held  their  assemblies,  and 
assumed  at  first  all  the  functions  of  the  Roman  state.  After- 
wards, however,  they  somewhat  modified  their  ideas  on  this 
subject,  and  suffered  the  usual  time  of  the  elections  to  elapse, 
not  attempting  to  preserve  in  their  retreat  the  succes- 
sion of  officers,  in  opposition  to  the  elections  that  were 
made  at  Rome.  Claudius  Marcellus  and  L.  Cornelius 
Lentulus,  at  the  expiration  of  their  year  in  office,  took  the 
several  commands  allotted  to  them,  as  usual,  under  the  title 
of  proconsul. 

The  general  had  been  extremely  active  in  forming,  as 
well  as  in  assembling  this  powerful  armament.  He  intend- 
ed, early  in  the  spring,  to  take  possession  of  Dyrrachium, 
Apollonia,  and  the  other  towns  on  the  coast,  probably  with 
a  view  to  fall  upon  Italy,  with  a  weight  which  now 
appeared  sufficient  to  ensure  the  high  reputation  as  a  com- 
mander, which  his  successes,  on  other  occasions,  had  pro- 
cured him. 

Cesar,  on  his  part,  had  drawn  all  his  army  to  the  coast  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Brundusium ;  and  he  himself,  having 
obtained  his  election  as  consul,  without  waiting  for  his  ad- 
mission into  office,  set  out  from  Rome  in  December  for  the 
same  place.  Here  twelve  legions  and  all  his  cavalry  were 
already,  by  his  order,  assembled.  He  embarked  seven 
legions  in  the  first  division,  and  with  these  he  himself  sailed 
on  the  fourth  of  February.  He  turned  from  the  usual 


Cm.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  383 

course,  and  steering  unobserved  to  the  right,  arrived  next 
day,  where  the  enemy,  if  they  had  really  been  apprised  of 
his  embarkation,  were  least  likely  to  expect  him  on  what 
was  reputed  a  very  dangerous  part  of  the  o>a-t,  uii'U-r  a 
high  and  rocky  promontory,  that  was  called  the  Acnx-e- 
raunus.* 

As  soon  as  the  fleet  had  come  to  an  anc.hor,  Cesar  having 
Vibullius  Kufus,  one  of  Pompey's  officers  who  was  taken 
in  Spain,  till  now  detained  as  a  prisoner,  ho  dismissed  him 
with  a  message  to  his  general  in  the  following  terms  | 
"  That  both  parties  had  already  carried  their  obstinacy  too 
far,  and  might  learn,  from  experience,  to  distrust  their  for- 
tunes. But  since  all  former  endeavours  to  procure  a 
conference,  or  to  bring  on  a  treaty  between  the  leaders 
themselves,  had  failed,  he  proposed,  that  all  their  differences 
should  now  be  referred  to  the  senate  and  people ;  that,  in 
the  mean  time,  each  of  them  should  solemnly  swear,  at  the 
head  of  their  respective  armies,  that,  in  three  days,  they 
should  disband  all  their  forces,  in  order  that,  being  disarmed, 
they  might  severally  be  under  a  necessity  to  submit  to  the 
legal  government  of  their  country ;  that  he  himself,  to  re- 
move all  difficulties  on  the  part  of  Pompey,  should  begin 
with  dismissing  all  the  troops  that  were  under  his  com- 
mand, whether  in  garrison  or  in  the  field."  As  he  usually 
accompanied  such  overtures  of  peace  with  the  most  rapid 
movements  and  the  boldest  resolutions,  the  moment  Vibul- 
lius set  out,  he  disembarked  his  troops,  and  in  the  night 
despatched  the  transports  on  their  return  to  Brundusium 
to  bring  the  remainder  of  his  army. 

His  landing  on  the  coast  was  the  first  intimation  received 
by  the  enemy  of  his  intention  to  pass  a  sea,  which  they 
supposed  sufficiently  guarded  by  their  fleets,  and  of  his  pur- 
pose to  carry  the  war  into  a  country,  in  which  they  thought 
themselves  secure  by  the  superiority  of  their  numbers,  and 
of  their  other  resources.  Cesar  marched  directly  to  Ori- 
eum,  where  the  garrison  deserted  their  commander,  and 
surrendered  the  place.  Without  stopping  here,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Apollonia,  was  received  in  the  same  manner  by 
the  inhabitants,  in  opposition  to  the  officer  who  commanded 
for  Pompey.  In  consequence  of  these  examples  he  was 
acknowledged  by  all  the  towns  of  Kpirus,  and  continued 
his  march  with  the  greatest  despatch  towards  Dyrrachium, 
where  Pompey  had  collected  hia  stores,  and  formed  his 
principal  magazines. 

Poiney,  in  execution  of  the  plan  he  had  formed,  was  on 

•  U.  C.  70i 


3S4  HISTORY  OF  THft  [B.  lr 

his  march  from  Macedonia  towards  the  coast  of  Epiru*, 
when  he  was  met  by  Vibullius,  and  received  from  him  the 
first  intelligence  of  Cesar's  landing.  He  was  not  amused 
with  the  message  which  this  officer  brought  him,  and,  with- 
out returning  any  answer,  detached  some  parties  towards 
the  coast  where  the  enemy  was  landed,  with  orders  to  lay 
waste  the  country,  break  down  the  bridges,  destroy  the 
woods,  and  block  up  the  highways  with  the  felled  timber. 
He  himself  advanced  with  great  diligence,  arrived  in  time 
to  prevent  the  designs  of  Cesar  on  Dyrrachium ;  encamped 
under  the  walls,  sent  a  squadron  of  ships  immediately  to 
retake  or  block  up  the  harbour  at  Oricum,  and  ordered  such 
a  disposition  of  the  fleet  as  was  most  likely  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  a  second  embarkation  from  Italy. 

Cesar,  finding  himself  prevented  at  Dyrrachium,  halted  on 
the  Apsus ;  and,  in  order  to  cover  Epirus  and  wait  for  the 
second  division  of  his  troops  from  Italy,  prepared  to 
intrench  himself  on  the  banks  of  that  river. 

Thither  Pompey  advanced  from  Dyrrachium,  and  took 
post  on  the  opposite  bank  of  that  river.  The  armies  con- 
tinued to  observe  each  other,  and  the  troops,  separated 
only  by  a  narrow  river,  had  frequent  conferences  from  the 
opposite  banks.  It  was  understood  that  in  these  interviews 
no  hostilities  should  be  offered.  Of  the  two  parties,  that  of 
Cesar  was  the-  more  engaging  to  soldiers ;  notwithstanding 
his  own  affectation  of  regard  to  the  civil  constitution  of  the 
republic,  his  military  retainers  still  hoped  to  remain  in  pos- 
session of  the  government.  He  therefore  encouraged  the 
communication  of  his  men  with  those  of  the  opposite  partj. 
In  these  interviews,  renewed  offers  of  reconciliation  on  the 
part  of  Cesar  appearing  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  both 
armies,  an  answer  was  given  by  the  direction  of  Pompey, 
that  on  the  following  day  A.  Varro  should  be  sent  to  any 
place  that  should  be  agreed  upon  as  safe  between  the  two 
armies,  and  there  receive  the  propositions  that  should  be 
made  to  him.  The  parties  accordingly  met  at  a  place  ap- 
pointed, and  multitudes  from  both  armies  crowded  around 
them.  Soon  after  the  officers  met,  some  darts,  probably  by 
Pompey's  directions,  were  thrown  from  the  crowd.  Both 
sides  being  alarmed  by  this  circumstance,  they  instantly 
parted,  and  withdrew  under  a  shower  of  missiles,  in  which 
numbers  were  wounded. 

The  fate  of  the  war  seemed  to  depend  on  the  vigilance  of 
the  fleet,  and  on  the  difficulties  with  which  Cesar  had  to  con- 
tend in  bringing  any  reinforcements  or  supplies  from  Italy. 
Bibulus,  from  the  effect  of  fatigue,  was  taken  dangerously 
ill ;  but  could  not  be  persuaded  to  leave  his  station,  aud  died 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  385 

on  shipboard.  There  being  nobody  appointed  to  succeed 
him  in  the  command  at  sea,  the  leader  of  each  of  the  separ- 
ate squadrons  acted  for  himself  without  any  concert. 
Scribonius  Libo,  with  fifty  galleys,  steered  towards  Brun- 
dusiutn,  where  lie  surprised  and  burned  some  trading  vessels, 
one  in  particular  laden  with  corn  for  Cesar's  camp.  Encour- 
aged by  these  successes,  he  anchored  under  the  island 
which  covered  the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  and  threatened  to 
cat  off  from  Cesar  all  reinforcements  and  further  supplies. 
Rut  in  tliis  he  presumed  too  much  on  the  first  effects  of  his 
rnvn  operations.  Antony,  who  commanded  the  troops  of 
Cesar  in  the  town  of  Brundusium,  effectually  excluded  the 
squadron  of  Libo  from  any  supply  of  wood  or  water,  and 
reduced  them  to  such  distress  for  want  of  these  articles, 
that  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  station,  and  to  leave 
the  harbour  again  open. 

In  the  mean  time  pressing  orders  arrived  from  Cesar  to 
hasten  the  embarkation  of  the  troops.  It  is  related  that  he 
himself  being  impatient  of  delay,  embarked  alone  in  disguise 
on  board  of  a  barge,  with  intention  to  pass  to  Brundusium ; 
that,  after  he  had  been  some  time  at  sea,  the  weather  became 
so  bad,  as  to  determine  the  master  of  the  vessel  to  put  back ; 
and  that  the  mariners  being  likeiy  to  faint,  the  passenger  at 
last  discovered  himself,  and  encouraged  them  to  persist,  by 
telling  them  that  they  carried  Cesar  and  his  fortunes ;  but 
that  nevertheless  he  was  forced  to  give  way,  and  to  intrust 
his  orders  to  a  messenger. 

Upon  these  orders,  the  troops  with  great  ardour  began  to 
embark.  They  consisted  of  four  legions  and  eight  hundred 
horse,  under  the  command  of  Mark  Antony  and  Calenus, 
The  wind  being  at  south,  and  no  enemy  appearing  in  the 
channel,  they  set  sail,  and  steered  for  the  coast  of  Epirus. 
They  met  with  rough  weather,  and  were  chased,  by  one  of 
Pompey's  squadrons.  They  made  for  the  nearest  harbour, 
and  most  of  them  landed  safely  in  the  bay  of  Nympheus, 
about  three  miles  beyond  Lissus,  on  the  coast  of  Dalmatia. 
Such  of  the  transports  as  got  safe  into  the  bay  of  Nympheus 
landed  three  veteran  legions,  with  one  of  the  new  levies, 
and  eight  hundred  horse.  Two  of  them  mistook  their  way, 
came  to  an  anchor  before  Lissus,  and  surrendered  to  the 
enemy,  though  a  part  of  them  fought  their  way,  with  the 
loss  of  a  few  men,  to  Nympheus,  where  they  joined  the  main 
body  of  their  army  that  was  landed  with  Antony. 

Cesar  having  obtained  this  great  reinforcement,  was  no 
longer  so  anxious  as  he  had  hitherto  been  for  the  preserva  • 
tj.ou  of  his  possessions  upon  the  coast.  Having  liis  vessela 
d,  he  lent  numerous  detachments  in  different  diroc- 


386  HISTORY  OF  THB  [B.  IV. 

tions:  L.  Cassius  Longinus,  with  a  legion  of  new  levies 
into  Thessaly ;  C.  Calvisius  Sabinus,  with  five  cohorts  and 
a  party  of  horse,  into  JEtolia;  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus, 
with  two  legions,  into  Macedonia ;  giving  strict  charge  to 
each  of  these  officers,  that  they  should  collect  all  the  forage 
and  provisions  which  those  or  the  neighbouring  countries 
could  furnish. 

As  Pompey  had  extorted  services  from  the  provinces, 
neglecting  the  necessary  attention  to  conciliate  their  affec- 
tions, the  detachments  which  now  appeared  on  the  part  of 
Cesar  were  everywhere  favourably  received.  Scipio  being 
the  father-in-law  of  Pompey,  had  been  employed  in  as- 
sembling the  forces  of  Asia,  and  had,  by  severe  exactions, 
availed  himself  of  the  resources  of  that  opulent  province. 
He  was  still  occupied  in  this  service  at  Ephesus,  when  he 
received  from  Pompey  an  account  of  Cesar's  arrival  in 
Epirus,  and  an  order  without  delay  to  transport  his  array 
into  Europe.  He  accordingly,  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
Cesar's  detachments  at  their  several  places  of  destination, 
penetrated  into  Macedonia,  directing  his  march  towards 
the  quarters  of  the  two  legions  under  the  command  of 
Domitius  Calvinus,  on  the  Haliacmon,  a  river  which  sepa- 
rates Macedonia  from  Thessaly.  The  armies  continued  to 
occupy  the  opposite  banks  of  the  river ;  and  as  Scipio  was 
roaster  of  all  Thessaly,  Calvinus  continued  in  possession  of 
Macedonia,  and  from  thence  secured  a  considerable  source 
of  supply  to  Cesar's  army. 

While  so  many  large  bodies,  detached  from  the  principal 
armies,  were  thus  contending  in  Thessaly  for  the  possession 
of  the  country,  Pompey  remained  to  cover  the  ground,  which 
was  of  greater  importance  to  him,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  sea,  and  the  port  of  Dyrrachium.  Having,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  about  a  day's  march  in  his  rear,  this  town  and 
harbour  as  a  place  of  arms,  at  which  he  had  deposited  his 
magazines  and  stores,  and  from  which  he  received  his  or- 
dinary supply  of  provisions,  he  had  taken  his  measures  to  pro 
tract  the  war;  and  trusting  to  his  own  superior  resources, 
both  by  sea  and  by  land,  did  not  doubt  that  by  waiting  until 
the  countries  which  Cesar  had  occupied  should  be  exhausted, 
he  might  force  Mm  to  retire  from  the  contest  without  the 
risk  of  a  battle.  To  hasten  this  event,  he  endeavoured 
everywhere  to  straiten  his  quarters  in  the  country,  and  to 
block  up  or  destroy  all  the  harbours  he  had  on  the  coast. 

Cesar,  on  the  opposite  part,  sensible  of  the  interest  which 
he  had  in  bringing  the  war  to  a  speedy  decision,  advanced 
upon  Pompey,  forced  a  place  of  some  strength  that  cov- 
ered his  front,  and  encamped  in  his  presence.  The  day 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  387 

after  he  arrived  in  this  position,  either  to  bring  on  a  genera, 
action,  or  to  gain  the  reputation  of  braving  his  antagonist* 
l.»e  formed  his  array  on  the  plain  between  the  two  camps  • 
but  as  Pompey  continued  firm  or  unmoved  by  this  insult, 
he  projected  a  movement,  by  which  he  proposed  either  to 
force  an  engagement,  or  to  preclude  the  enemy  from  all  his 
resources  in  the  town  and  harbour  of  Dyrrachium.    For 
this  purpose,  he  decamped  in  the  day,  and  having  a  large 
circuit  to  make,  directed  his  march  at  first  from  Dyrrachium, 
and  was  thought  to  retire  for  want  of  provisions ;  but  in 
the  night  he  changed  his  direction,  and  with  great  diligence 
advanced  upon  and  gained  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town. 
Pompey  thus  shut  out  from  Dyrrachium,  where  he  had 
placed  his  magazines  and  stores,  and  from  the  only  harbour 
he  had  on  the  coast,  fortified  Petra,  a  small  promontory 
wliich  covered  a  little  creek  or  bay  not  far  from  the  town, 
and  there  procured  supplies  in  boats  from  his  magazines  and 
stores  in  the  town;  and  in  this  manner  was  still  in  condi- 
tion to  avoid  any  immediate  risk  of  his  fortunes  in  a  single 
action.    Cesar,  on  the  other  hand,  being  disappointed  in 
the  design  he  had  formed  to  exclude  the  enemy  from  their 
magazines  in  the  town  of  Dyrrachium,  and  seeing  no  likeli- 
hood of  being  able  to  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy  decision,  his 
own  communication  with  Italy  being  entirely  cut  off,  to* 
the  fleets  he  had  ordered  from  thence,  from  Sicily,  and  from 
Gaul,  having  met  with  unexpected  delays,  sent  an  officer, 
named  L.   Canuleius,  into  Epirus,  with  a  commission  to 
draw  into  magazines  all  the  corn  that  could  be  found  in  that 
or  the  neighbouring  districts,  and  to  secure  them  at  proper 
places  for  the  use  of  his  army.     On  hearing,  too,  of  Scipio's 
arrival  in  Europe,  affecting  to  have  despaired  of  obtaining 
peace  by  any  farther  direct  applications  to  Pompey  himself, 
and  willing  to  appeal  to  the  reason  of  the  father-in-law 
igainst  the  obstinacy  of  the  son,  he  sent  Clodius,  their  com- 
mon friend,  with  letters  and  instructions,  to  inform  Scipio 
of  the  great  pains  he  had  taken  to  obtain  an  equitable  ac- 
commodation,  "all    which,    he   presumed,    had   hitherto 
failed  through  the  unhappy  timidity  of  those  he  intrusted 
with  his  messages.  But  subjoined  that,  through  the  mediatiaC 
of  Scipio,  who  could  deliver  himself  with  so  much  freedom, 
who  could  advise  with  so  much  authority  ;  and  who,  boin| 
at  the  head  of  a  great  army  attached  to  his  person,  could  even 
enforce  what  was  just,  he  might  expect  a  different  is~ue  tc 
propositions  so  fair  and  so  reasonable."    Clodius  wiis  re- 
ceived with  respect ;   but  on  delivering  his  message,  i 
appears  that  all  farther  communiriition  was  refused  hi.n 
Cesar  indeed,  was  himself,  as  usual,  so  far  from  trusting  to 


388  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  H 

the  effect  of  these  propositions,  or  so  far  from  remitting  hii 
own  operations  in  order  to  confirm  his  pacific  professions, 
that  he  even  redoubled  his  efforts  in  that  very  quarter 
which  was  intrusted  to  Scipio;  and  as  he  had  already 
possessed  himself  of  Epirus,  Acarnania,  and  ^Stolia,  he 
carried  his  views  still  farther  on  that  side,  and  sent  Fusius 
Calenus  to  penetrate  into  Achaia.  He  himself  at  the  same 
time  engaged  in  a  project  to  invest  Pompey  in  his  camp, 
though  at  the  head  of  an  army  superior  to  his  own,  and 
oblige  him  to  recede  from  the  coast,  or  submit  to  be  invested 
with  lines,  and  completely  shut  out  from  the  country.  For 
this  purpose  he  occupied  several  hills  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Pompey's  camp,  strengthened  them  with  forts,  joined 
those  forts  by  lines  of  communication  across  the  valleys, 
and  soon  appeared  to  have  projected  a  complete  chain  of 
redoubts,  and  a  line  of  circumvallation. 

Pompey,  to  counteract  this  daring  project,  took  possession 
of  some  heights  in  his  turn,  fortified  and  joined  them  in  the 
same  manner,  and  while  the  one  endeavoured  to  contract, 
the  other  endeavoured  to  enlarge,  the  compass  of  his 
works.  The  archers  and  slingers  on  both  sides,  as  in  the 
operations  of  a  siege,  were  employed  to  annoy  the  work- 
men. The  armies  lay  under  arms,  and  fought  in  detail  for 
the  possession  of  advantageous  grounds.  When  forced  from 
one  height  which  they  attempted  to  occupy,  they  seized 
upon  another  that  was  contiguous,  and  still  continued  their 
Jne,  though  obliged  to  change  its  direction. 

In  these  operations,  a  campaign  that  began  in  January 
with  the  landing  of  Cesar  on  the  coast  of  Epirus,  already  drew 
on  to  the  middle  of  summer,  and  both  parties  had  under- 
gone great  labour,  and  were  exposed  to  peculiar  distress. 
During  that  period  it  appears  that  the  armies  changed  the 
ground  of  their  principal  encampments  as  well  as  the  dis- 
position  of  some  separate  posts,  and  mutually  harassed  each 
other  with  frequent  surprises  and  alarms.  And  Cesar 
mentions  no  less  than  six  capital  actions  which  happened  iu 
one  day  at  the  lines  of  circumvallation,  or  under  the  walls 
of  Dyrrachium  ;  and  in  most  of  them  it  is  probable  thafc 
Pompey  had  the  Advantage,  as  he  acted  on  the  string,  or 
smaller  circumference,  while  his  antagonists  moved  on  the 
bow,  or  the  wider  circle. 

The  extremities  of  both  their  works  terminated  on  the 
shore ;  and  Cesar  having  no  boats  or  ships  sought  merely 
for  occasions  of  action,  and  was  contented  with  the  hopes 
of  finding  them  even  under  such  disadvantages.  While  he 
was  obliged  to  remain  with  the  strength  of  his  army  at 
that  end  of  his  line  which  was  nearest  the  town  of  Dyrra- 


Ciiv  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  3S9 

thinm,  in  order  to  prevent  the  access  of  Pompey  to  his 
magazines,  he  began  to  fortify  the  other  extremity  of  it 
with  double  works. 

Before  this  work  was  completed,  Pompey  made  adisposi- 
tion  to  force  him  at  this  extremity  of  his  lines,  and  of  con- 
sequence to  open  a  way  to  his  rear  over  the  whole  extent 
of  his  works.  For  this  purpose,  he  brought  in  the  night  six 
entire  legions,  or  sixty  cohorts,  to  that  part  of  his  own 
works  which  faced  this  place.  He  embarked  a  numerous 
body  of  archers,  slingers,  and  other  light  troops,  in  the  night-, 
and  the  officer  who  commanded  it  had  orders  to  land  part 
of  the  troops  in  the  rear  of  both  Cesar's  intrenchments,  and 
another  part  between  them  where  the  work  was  still  in- 
complete, in  order  to  co-operate  with  the  whole  force  of 
the  legions  in  front,  who  were  to  take  advantage  of  any 
ett'ect  which  the  missiles  from  their  boats  might  produce  on 
the  Hank  or  the  rear  of  the  enemy 

These  attacks  were  accordingly  made  at  daybreak,  in 
three  different  places  at  once,  and  had  all  the  consequences 
of  a  complete  surprise.  They  fell  with  the  greatest  effect 
upon  the  station  of  one  legion,  of  which  the  pickets  and  other 
guards  being  instantly  routed,  the  whole  legion  was  put 
under  arms  to  support  them ;  but,  being  soon  infected  with 
the  panic,  was  carried  off  in  the  flight.  The  alarm  was  con- 
veyed to  Cesar  by  fires  lighted  on  all  the  hills,  and  he 
hastened  to  the  ground  with  as  many  cohorts  as  could  be 
spared  from  the  posts  in  his  way ;  but  he  came  too  late. 
?ompey  had  already  forced  the  intrenchments,  had  burst 
t'rom  his  confinement,  and  was  beginning  to  encamp  in  a 
uew  position,  where,  without  losing  his  communication 
with  the  sea,  he  rendered  abortive  for  a  long  time  Cesar't 
purpose  of  excluding  him  from  the  supplies  of  necessaries 
or  conveniences  which  were  to  be  derived  from  the  land, 
and  was  now  in  a  posture  to  command  a  free  access  to  water 
and  forage,  from  the  want  of  which  he  had  been  much  dis- 
tressed in  his  late  situation. 

An  action  speedily  followed,  by  which  it  appears  that  both 
armies  changed  the  ground  which  they  had  taken  im- 
mediately after  the  last  action,  and  that  in  this  remove 
Pompey  had  taken  possession  of  the  camp  wliich  Cesar  had 
left. 

Pompey  however  thought  proper  to  semi  back  a  legion, 
or  large  detachment  of  his  army,  to  resume  the  po- 
of the  camp  he  had  formerly  occupied ;  and  Cesar,  ow  his 
part,  observing  this  detachment  sent  off  from  the  enemy, 
thought  it  gave  him  a  favourable  opportunity,  by  cutting  it 
off,  to  recover  part  of  the  credit  lie  had  lost  in  the  late 
T  1 


ISO  HISTORY  OF  THE  [U.  IV. 

K'tion.  While,  to  amuse  the  enemy,  he  ordered  his  men  to 
-.mitinue  the  work  in  which  they  were  engaged,  he  himself 
Siarched  with  twenty-three  cohorts,  in  two  divisions,  under 
wer  of  the  wooJ,  came  to  the  ground  unobserved,  and 
»dth  the  division  which  was  led  by  himself,  mixed  with  the 
?nemy,  who  had  already  taken  possession  of  the  exterior 
lines  and  drove  them  from  thence  to  the  interior  intrench - 
ment  with  great  slaughter.  The  other  division  being  ir 
the  mean  time  to  attack  the  same  works  at  a  different  place 
mistook  the  line  of  communication  which  covered  the  access 
from  the  camp  to  the  river  for  the  intrenchment  of  the 
camp  itself,  and  gave  Pompey  an  opportunity  to  come  to 
the  relief  of  his  detachment.  As  soon  as  he  appeared,  Cesar's 
troops,  imagining  that  they  were  about  to  be  surrounded, 
or  shut  up  within  the  enemy's  works,  betook  them  to 
flight,  crowded  back  to  the  ditch,  and  in  attempting  to  re- 
pass  it,  were  killed  in  such  heaps,  or  were  trodden  under 
foot  in  such  numbers,  that  the  slain  filled  up  the  ditch, 
and  made  a  passage  for  those  that  followed. 

In  this  state  of  general  confusion  and  terror,  the  presence 
and  authority  of  Cesar,  which,  on  other  occasions,  used  to 
be  of  so  great  effect,  were  entirely  disregarded.  The 
bearer  of  a  standard,  on  Cesar's  catching  it,  and  endeavour- 
ing to  stop  him,  quitted  his  hold,  and  continued  to  run  with- 
out it;  a  rider,  whose  horse  he  had  seized  by  the  bridle, dis- 
mounted, and  ran  off  on  foot.  The  rout  was  complete  ; 
Cesar  lost  about  a  thousand  men,  with  above  thirty  stan- 
dards or  colours,  and  owed  the  preservation  of  his  army  to 
the  excessive  caution  or  incapacity  of  Pompey.  He  him- 
self acted  indeed  like  a  person  defeated,  instantly  abandoned 
all  his  famous  lines  of  Dyrrachium,  and  all  his  outposts  ;  and 
to  make  head  against  the  victor,  brought  all  the  scattered 
parts  of  his  army  together. 

This  victory,  although  it  had  not  been  perceived  in  the 
precise  moment  in  which  a  signal  advantage  could  have 
leen  made  of  it,  was  presently  after  wards  greatly  exagger- 
[ted.  Pompey  had  from  his  own  army  the  usual  saltations 
of  triumph,  or  received  the  title  of  Imperator,  which  he 
continued  to  assume,  and  sent  his  accounts  of  the  action, 
by  expresses,  to  every  part  of  the  empire ;  but  had  the 
moderation  to  abstain  from  the  practice  that  was  usual  in 
the  case  of  victories  obtained  over  foreign  enemies,  that  of 
binding1  his  fasces  and  his  despatches  with  laurel.  Some 
time  before  this  event,  and  while  the  minds  of  men  were 
yet  in  suspense,  Cato,  in  one  of  the  councils  which  had  been 
summoned  by  3'ompey,  observed  that  Cesar  kad  acquired 
much  pooular  favour  bv  his  ostentation  of  m^rcy,  and 


CH.  VI  ]  ItQJVIAN  REPUBLIC.  391 

moved,  that  a  proclamation  should  be  issued,  containing 
assurances,  that  every  town  not  actually  in  arms  should 
be  protected,  and  that  no  blood  be  shed  but  in  the  field 
of  battle.  A  resolution  to  this  purpose  had  been  accord 
ingly  published ;  but  in  the  present  exultation  of  victory 
was  forgotten.  The  times  were  said  to  require  exemplary 
justice,  and  to  justify  executions  and  forfeitures,  not  only 
of  those  who  were  actually  in  arms  against  their  country, 
but  of  those  likewise  who  had  betrayed  its  cause  by  a  mean 
and  profligate  neutrality. 

The  shock  which  Cesar  had  received  in  so  critical  a  time 
and  situation,  was,  not  without  reason,  supposed  to  bo 
decisive,  but  he  himself  was  not  overwhelmed  by  these 
appearances ;  he  I  new  what  was  the  force  of  an  army  which 
had  been  taught,  by  tne  experience  ot  many  years,  to  repose 
the  utmost  confidence  in  themselves  and  in  their  general, 
and  which  was  not  likely  to  sink,  without  hopes  of  recovery, 
under  any  single  event.  He  however  prepared,  without 
loss  of  time,  to  decamp  and  to  retreat  to  Apollonia,  being  a 
march  of  about  thirty  miles. 

Having  with  some  difficulty  accomplished  this,  he  pro- 
posed, without  delay,  to  penetrate  into  Thessaly,  and  to 
occupy,  for  the  subsistence  of  his  army,  as  much  as  he  could 
of  that  fertile  country.  He  flattered  himself,  that  if  Pompey 
should  follow  him  thither,  to  a  distance  from  his  magazines 
and  his  supplies  by  sea,  the  war  might  be  continued  between 
them  upon  equal  terms.  If  he  attempted  to  retake  Oricum 
and  the  towns  on  the  coast,  he  must  expose  Scipio  and 
the  body  under  his  command,  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Mace- 
donia, to  be  separately  attacked  ;  or,  if  he  wished  to  pre- 
serve Scipio  and  his  army,  he  would  be  obliged  to  quit  his 
design  upon  Oricum  in  order  to  support  them.  If  he 
should  pass  into  Italy,  it  was  proposed  to  follow  him  by  the 
coasts  of  Dalmatia.  And  this  last  alternative  of  carrying 
the  war  into  Italy,  from  the  difficulties,  the  delays,  and  the 
discredit  to  which  it  might  have  exposed  Cesar's  can<e, 
appears  to  have  been  the  preferable  choice  for  Pompey.  It 
was  accordingly  debated  in  council,  but  the  war  appeared 
to  be  so  near  its  conclusion,  that  it  was  reckoned  improper 
to  leave  any  part  of  it  unfini>hed. 

Upon  these  motives  both  armies,  having  their  several 
detachments  in  Thessaly,  and  >eparate  bodies  to  Mipport  or 
to  rescue  from  the  dangers  which  threatened  them;  the 
generals  determined  to  march  into  that  country,  j'.nd  ral- 
culated  their  respective  movements,  so  as  to  cut  oil  the 
enemy's  parties,  or  to  sustain  their  own.  Cesar  pa->ed  the 
mountains  into  Thessaly,  ami  continued  his  inarch  to  Qom- 


392  HISTORY  OF  THE  [13.  IV. 

phi.  The  people  of  this  place  having-  refused  to  admit  him, 
lie  scaled  the  walls,  gave  the  town  to  be  pillaged,  and  put 
all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.  When  he  arrived  at 
Metropolis,  the  people,  terrified  by  the  fate  of  Gomphi, 
threw  open  their  gates ;  and  Cesar,  to  contrast  this  with 
the  former  example,  gave  them  protection.  From  thence 
to  Larissa,  where  Scipio,  having  fallen  hack  from  the 
Aliacmon,  then  lay  with  a  considerable  army,  the  country 
was  open,  and  Cesar,  or  his  parties,  were  everywhere 
received  without  opposition.  Having  passed  all  the  lesser 
rivers  which  fall  into  the  Peneus,  he  took  post  on  the 
Knipeus,  which  runs  through  the  district  of  Pharsalia. 
Here  he  commanded  extensive  plains,  covered  with  forage 
and  with  ripening  corn;  had  a  very  fertile  country  to  a 
great  distance  in  his  rear;  and  being  joined  not  only  by 
Domitius,  but  probably  likewise  by  the  legion  which  Lon- 
ginus  commanded  in  Etolia,  in  all  amounting  to  ten  legions, 
he  was  in  condition  to  renew  his  offensive  operations. 

Pompey  directed  his  motions  likewise  towards  the  same 
quarter  ;  but  although  he  had  the  more  direct  route, 
and  was  everywhere  received  as  victor  in  the  late  ac- 
tion, was  still  on  his  march.  Scipio  advanced  from  Lar- 
issa to  receive  him  ;  and  being  joined,  they  took  post 
together  on  a  height  near  Pharsalus,  and  in  sight  of  Cesar's 
station,  at  the  distance  of  thirty  stadia,  or  about  three 
miles.  The  armies  being  some  time  fixed  in  this  position, 
Cesar  drew  forth,  in  the  front  of  his  intrenchment,  to  pro- 
voke his  antagonist.  As  this  was  a  defiance,  and  had  some 
effect  on  the  minds  of  the  soldiers,  it  was  proper  to  return 
it ;  and  both  sides,  during  many  days,  continued  to  turn 
out  in  the  front  of  their  respective  lines.  Cesar  advanced, 
on  each  successive  day,  still  nearer  to  Pompey's  ground ; 
out  there  were  some  difficulties  in  the  way  of  his  further 
approach,  in  which  he  did  not  choose  to  engage  himself  in 
the  presence  of  an  enemy,  nor  did  Pompey  choose  to  quit 
the  eminence  on  which  he  had  hitherto  formed  his  line  o/ 
battle. 

The  summer  being  far  spent,  and  all  the  forage  and  corn 
of  the  neighbouring  plains  being  consumed,  Cesar  began 
again  to  suffer  for  want  of  provisions,  and  was  about  to 
retreat  to  some  situation  in  which  he  could  more  easily 
subsist  his  own  army.  Having  appointed  a  day  on  which 
the  armies  should  move,  the  tents  being  already  struck, 
and  the  signal  to  march  given,  while  the  van  was  passing 
through  the  rear-gate  of  the  camp,  it  was  observed,  that 
Pompey's  army,  being  formed  according  to  their  daily 
practice,  had  advanced  farther  than  usual  before  their  lilies. 


CH,  VI.  l  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  393 

Cesar  immediately  pave  orders  to  halt,  saying-  to  those  \vho 
were  near  him,  "The  time  we  have  so  earnestly  wished 
for  is  come;  let  us  see  how  we  are  to  acquit  ourselves." 
He  immediately  ordered,  as  a  signal  of  battle,  a  purple 
ensign  to  be  hoisted  on  a  lance  in  the  centre  of  the  camp. 

Pompey  thought  himself  under  a  necessity  to  come  to  a 
speedy  decision,  and  had  prepared  for  battle  on  the  morning 
of  that  very  day  on  which  Cesar  was  about  to  decamp. 
Having1  the  Enipeus,  a  small  river  with  steep  banks,  on  his 
right,  which  sufficiently  covered  that  flank,  he  drew  all  the 
cavalry,  amounting  to  seven  thousand,  with  the  archers  and 
slingers,  to  his  left,  expecting  that  the  event  of  the  battle 
would  be  determined  on  this  wing.  He  himself,  therefore, 
took  post  to  second  the  operations  of  the  cavalry,  at  the 
head  of  the  two  famous  legions  which  he  had  called  off 
from  Cesar  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Scipio  was  posted 
in  the  centre,  with  the  legions  from  Syria,  having  the  great 
body  of  the  infantry  divided  on  his  right  and  his  left  The 
right  of  the  whole  was  covered  by  a  Cilician  legion,  and  the 
remains  of  the  Spanish  army  which  had  joined  Pompey 
under  Afranius.  The  whole  amounted  to  one  hundred 
cohorts,  or  about  forty-five  thousand  foot,  drawn  up  in  a 
line  of  ten  men  deep. 

Cesar,  observing  this  disposition,  formed  his  army  in 
three  divisions ;  the  left  was  commanded  by  Antony,  the 
ight  by  Sylla,  and  the  centre  by  Cneius  Domitius.  The 
tenth  legion  was  posted  on  the  right,  and  the  ninth  on  the 
'eft  of  the  whole.  He  had  eighty  cohorts  in  the  field ;  but 
these  so  incomplete,  as  not  to  exceed  above  twenty-two 
thousand  men.  He  saw  the  disparity  of  his  horse  and 
Irregulars  on  the  right,  having  no  more  than  a  thousand 
horse  to  oppose  to  seven  thousand  of  the  enemy.  In  order 
to  reinforce  and  sustain  them,  he  draughted  a  cohort  from 
each  of  the  legions  in  the  right  to  form  a  reserve,  which  he 
placed  in  the  rear  of  his  cavalry  with  orders  to  sustain 
them,  or  to  repel  the  enemy's  horse,  when  they  should 
attempt,  as  he  expected,  to  turn  his  flank.  This  body 
formed  a  fourth  division  of  his  army,  not  placed  in  the  same 
line  with  the  other  divisions;  but  facing  obliquely  to  tho 
right,  in  order  to  receive  tho  cavalry  that  was  oxpot-ted  to 
turn  the  flank,  and  to  fall  obliquely  on  the  roar.  Ho  him- 
(elf  passed  along  the  front  of  tho  right  wing,  and  cannot  ly 
entreated  them  not  to  engage  till  they  got  the  signal  from 
himself.  He  reminded  them  of  his  continual  attention  to 
the  welfare  of  the  army,  desiring1  them  to  recollect  with 
what  solicitude  he  had  endeavoured  to  bring  on  a  troaty, 
in  order  to  save  both  nrmioi  to  the  republic ;  and  how  I'M 


394  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

he  had  always  been  from  any  disposition  wantonly  to  shed 
the  soldiers'  blood.  He  was  answered  with  shout?  that 
expressed  an  impatience  to  begin  the  action.  Pompey  had 
directed  the  cavalry  and  archers  assembled  on  his  left  to 
begin  the  attack  ;  and  instructed  them,  as  soon  as  they  had 
driven  Cesar's  horse  from  the  plain,  to  fall  upon  the  flank 
and  the  rear  of  his  infantry. 

These  dispositions  being-  completed,  a  solemn  pause,  and 
un  interval  of  silence  ensued.  The  same  arms,  and  the 
same  appearances  presented  themselves  on  the  opposite 
sides.  When  the  trumpets  gave  the  signal  to  advance,  the 
sounds  were  the  same.  Cesar's  army  began  to  rush  forward, 
and  they  were  received  'with  perfect  order,  but  not  with 
that  resistance  and  equal  force  which  motion  alone  could 
give.  The  action  became  general  near  about  the  same 
time  over  the  whole  front.  Pompey's  horse,  as  was  ex- 
pected, in  the  first  charge,  put  Cesar's  cavalry  to  rout,  and, 
together  with  the  archers  and  slingers,  were  hastening  to 
turn  the  flank  of  the  enemy.  But  as  soon  as  they  opened 
their  view  to  the  rear,  being  surprised  at  the  sight  of  a  body 
of  infantry  which  was  drawn  up  to  oppose  them,  and  being, 
probably,  from  their  confidence  of  victory,  negligent  of 
order ;  in  their  attempts  to  recover  it  they  were  thrown 
into  the  utmost  confusion,  and,  although  there  was  not  an 
enemy  in  condition  to  pursue  them,  fled  to  the  heights. 
The  archers  and  slingers,  being  thus  deserted  by  the  horse, 
were  put  to  the  sword.  And  Pompey's  left,  on  which  he 
expected  the  enemy  could  not  resist  him,  being  flanked 
by  the  cohorts  who  had  defeated  his  cavalry,  began  to 
give  way.  Cesar,  in  order  to  increase  the  impression  he 
had  made,  brought  forward  fresh  troops  to  the  front  of  his 
own  line ;  and  while  his  reserve  turned  upon  the  flank, 
made  a  general  charge,  which  the  enemy  no  longer  endeav- 
oured to  withstand. 

Pompey,  on  seeing  the  flight  of  his  cavalry,  an  event  he 
so  little  expected,  either  thought  himself  betrayed,  or 
despairing  of  the  day,  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  returned 
into  camp.  AsPhe  entered  the  pretorian  gate,  he  called  to 
the  guards  to  stand  to  their  arms,  and  to  provide  for  the 
worst.  He  retired  to  his  tent  in  the  greatest  dejection,  and 
yet  awaited  the  issue.  His  army  in  the  mean  time,  being 
routed,  fled  in  confusion  through  the  lanes  of  their  own  en- 
campment. It  was  noon,  and  the  victors,  as  well  as  the 
vanquished,  were  greatly  fatigued ;  but  Cesar  seldom  left 
Hny  refuge  to  a  flying  enemy,  not  even  beuind  their 
intrenchments.  He  ordered  Pompey's  lines  to  be  stormed, 
met  with  somo  little  resistance  from  the  aruards  that  weif 


CH.  Vir.l  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  395 

placed  on  the  parapet,  but  soon  prevail "d.  The  rout  and 
the  canui^f  continued  through  the  streets  and  the  aileys  of 
the  camp,  to  the  rear-gate  and  passages  through  \vhicli  the 
vanquished  crowded  to  recover  the  fiel  !s,  and  from  winch, 
without  any  attempt  to  rally,  they  continued  their  flight  to 
the  neighbouring  hills. 

When  Pompey's  army  drew  forth  to  battle,  their  tents 
were  left  standing,  as  in  full  confidence  of  victory  ;  and  the 
plate,  furniture,  and  equipage  of  the  officers  were  still  dis- 
played, as  if  intended  for  show.  Notwithstanding  this  cir- 
cumstance, Cesar  had  authority  enough  to  restrain  his 
troops  from  plunder,  and  continued  tlie  pursuit.  Seeing 
crowds  of  the  vanquished  had  occupied  a  hill  in  the  rear  of 
their  camp,  he  made  haste,  surround'"!  them,  and  cut  off 
their  farther  retreat.  When  overwhelmed  with  fatigue 
and  distress,  these  remains  of  the  vanquished  army  offered 
to  capitulate ;  and  while  the  treaty  was  in  dependence 
many  among  them,  who  were  senators  -md  persons  of  rank, 
withdrew  in  the  night,  and  made  their  escape  ;  the  rest 
surrendered  at  discretion.  Persons  of  distinction,  who  had 
been  formerly  prisoners,  and  who  had  been  set  at  liberty, 
were  now  put  to  death.  As  for  the  private  men,  they  took 
oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  victor,  and  were  enlisted  in  his 
array. 


CHAP.  VII. 

Comparative  Loss  on  the  different  Sides  in  the  late  Action— Pompey"s 
Flight -Hit  Death— Arrival  of  Cesar  at  Alexandria— Cato,  with  the 
Fleet  and  remains  of  Ike  Army  from  Pharsalia,  steers  for  Africa — State 
of  Italy  and  of  the  Republican  Parly  —  Adventures  of  Cesar  in  Egypt 
—-Victory  over  Phamaces— Arrival  in  Italy —Passage  into  Africa  — 
His  Operations  and  Action  with  the  Horse  and  Irregulars  of  the  Enemy 
—Bailie  of  Thapsus  —Death  of  Cato. 

IN  the  famous  battle  of  Pharsalia,  Cesar,  by  his  own  account, 
lost  no  more  than  two  hundred  men,  among  whom  were 
thirty  centurions,  officers  of  distiii^m  -heil  merit.  He  killed 
of  the  enemy  fifteen  thousand,  took  twenty-four  thousand 
prisoners,  with  a  hundred  and  eighty  stand  of  colours,  an  I 
nineteen  Roman  eagles  and  legionary  standards;  and  on 
this  occasion. he  cut  off  many  senators  and  many  of  the 
equestrian  order,  the  flower  of  the  Roman  nobility,  who 
were  the  most  likely  to  bear  up  the  sinking  fortunes  of  the 
commonwealth. 
Pompey,  when  he  was  told  that  Osar's  troops  had  already 


306  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 


his  intMsnchments,  changed  his  dress,  mounted  on 
h  yfseback,  arar  made  his  escape  at  Larissa.  From  thence 
he,  passed  by  the  valley  of  Tempe  to  the  coast,  and  put  off 
from  the  shore  in  a  small  boat  with  a  fe\v  of  his  attendants, 
and  coming1  in  sight  of  a  trading-  vessel,  was  taken  on 
board,  and  arrived  at  Amphipolis.  His  wife  Cornelia,  and 
Sextus  the  youngest  of  his  sons,  were  at  Mitylene,  in  the 
island  of  Lesbos  ;  thither  he  sailed,  and,  having  taken  them 
on  board,  and  being  joined  by  some  galleys  of  the  fleet,  con- 
tinued his  voyage  to  the  coast  of  Cilicia,  and  from  thence  to 
Cyprus.  He  meant  to  have  landed  in  Syria  ;  but  being  in- 
formed that  the  people  of  Antioch,  upon  the  news  of  hi* 
defeat,  had  published  a  resolution  to  admit  none  of  his 
party,  he  dropt  that  intention,  and  contented  himsetf  with 
what  aids  and  reinforcements  he  obtained  on  the  coasts  oi 
Cilicia  and  Cyprus,  and  continued  his  voyage  to  Egypt. 

The  late  king,  Ptolemy  Auletes,  had  been  indebted  to  the 
Romans  and  the  patronage  of  Pompey  ;  and  the  kingdom 
being  now  on  a  respectable  footing,  having  a  considerable 
military  force  in  the  field  ;  this  Roman  leader,  though  of  a 
vanquished  party,  flattered  himself,  that  in  the  gratitude  of 
the  Egyptian  court  he  might  find  some  means  to  reinstate 
his  affairs. 

On  the  death  of  Ptolemy,  who  had  been  restored  to  his 
throne  by  Gabinius,  Ptolemy  the  eldest  of  his  sons,  together 
with  Cleopatra  the  eldest  daughter  were  left  joint  heirs  of 
the  crown.  This  brother  and  sister  being*  by  the  laws  per- 
mitted to  marry,  were  in  the  capacity  of  husband  and  wife 
associated  on  the  throne.  But  the  council  of  the  young 
king  excluded  Cleopatra,  and  had  taken  post  with  a  great 
army  at  Pelusium  to  prevent  her  return,  she  being  said  to 
have  assembled  a  numerous  force  in  Asia  for  that  purpose. 
Pompey  observing  this  army  upon  the  shore,  concluded 
that  the  king  was  present,  came  to  anchor,  and  sent  a  mes- 
eage  with  intimation  of  his  arrival.  The  council  of  Ptole- 
my knowing  that  the  Romans  had  been  named  executors  of 
tie  late  king's  will,  and  in.  this  capacity  might  restore 
Cleopatra  to  her  share  in  the  throne,  and  that  Pompey,  in 
name  of  the  republic,  might  assume  the  supreme  direction 
in  Egypt,  were  greatly  alarmed  upon  receiving  his  message, 
and  came  to  a  resolution  to  put  him  to  death. 

With  this  intention  Achillas,  with  a  few  of  his  attendants, 
came  on  board  in  a  small  boat,  delivered  a  message  from 
Ptolemy,  inviting  Pompey  to  land.  In  the  mean  time  some 
Egyptian  galleys,  with  an  'intention  to  secure  him,  drew 
near  to  his  ship;  and  the  whole  army,  with  the  king  at 
their  head,  were  drawn  out  on  the  shore  to  receive  him, 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  397 

The  size  of  the  boat,  and  the  appearance  of  the  equipage 
which  came  on  this  errand,  seemed  di^proportioned  to  the 
rank  of  Pompey ;  and  Achillas  made  an  apology,  alleging, 
that  deeper  vessels  could  not  go  near  enough  to  land  him 
on  that  shallow  part  of  the  coast.  Two  of  his  servants  went 
before  him  into  the  boat  to  receive  their  master ;  and  with 
his  attendance  he  put  off  from  the  ship.  His  wife  Cornelia, 
and  Sextus  the  youngest  of  his  sons,  with  some  other  friends, 
remained  upon  deck,  when,  soon  after  the  barge  had  left 
the  ship,  Achillas  beckoned  to  the  other  soldiers,  who  un- 
derstood the  signal,  and  put  the  Roman  general  to  death. 
He  sank  without  making  any  struggle,  or  uttering  one 
word.  This  was  done  in  the  presence  of  the  king  of  Egypt 
and  of  his  army,  who  were  ranged  in  a  kind  of  amphitheatre 
formed  by  the  shore.  The  vessel  in  which  the  unhappy 
Cornelia  with  her  family  was  left,  and  the  little  squadron 
which  attended  it,  as  if  they  had  received  a  signal  to  depart, 
cut  their  cables  and  fled.  Thus  died  Pompey,  who  for 
above  thirty  years  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  the  first  captain 
of  his  age.  He  attained  to  more  consideration,  and  enjoyed 
it  longer  than  any  other  Roman  citizen;  and  was  supplanted 
at  last,  because,  for  many  years  of  his  life,  he  thought 
himself  too  high  to  be  rivalled,  and  too  secure  to  be  shaken 
in  his  place. 

The  accounts  which  Cesar  received  at  Larissa  made  him 
believe  that  Pompey  must  have  passed  into  Asia ;  and  he 
accordingly,  on  the  third  day  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia, 
set  out  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  having  gained  the  coast,  set 
sail  for  Alexandria,  and  arrived,  after  a  very  quick  pas- 
sage. Here  he  learned  the  catastrophe  of  Pompey's  life ; 
and  had  presented  to  him,  by  the  courtiers  of  Ptolemy,  the 
head  of  the  deceased  severed  from  the  body.  He  was 
detained  at  first  by  the  usual  periodical  winds  of  the 
season,  and  became  entangled  in  difficulties,  or  engaged  in 
pleasures,  which  occasioned  a  very  unaccountable  stay, 
suspended  the  expectations  of  the  whole  empire,  and  gave 
to  those  of  the  opposite  party  leisure  to  consult  their  safety 
in  different  ways. 

Cato,  upon  the  march  of  Pompey  into  Thessaly,  had  been 
left  to  command  on  tho  coast  of  Epirus ;  and  his  quarters, 
after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  became  a  place  of  retreat  to 
many  who  escaped  from  the  field,  or  who,  at  the  time  of 
the  action,  had  been  detached  on  different  services.  H« 
assembled  great  part  of  the  tleot  at  Corey ra  ;  and,  with  hia 
sea  and  land  forces  united,  still  preserved  the  asoect  of  a 
yig'orous  party.  Cicero,  Cneius  the  eldest  son  of  Pompey» 
Afraniua,  Labienut,  and  other  persona  of  tUstuu-tiuu  had 


393  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

joined  him.  Having-  staid  a  sufficient  time  at  Corcyra,  to 
receive  on  board  such  of  the  vanquished  army  as  chose  to 
take  refuge  in  the  fleet;  and  having-  afterwards  put  into 
Patrae,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  for  the  same 
purpose,  he  still  gave  every  one  his  option  to  continue  in 
arms,  or  to  retire.  He  seems  to  have  supposed  that  Pompey 
was  gone  into  Egypt,  and  he  determined  to  follow  him.  Be- 
ing, in  pursuance  of  this  design,  arrived  in  the  African  seas, 
but  west  of 'the  frontier  of  Egypt,  he  met  the  unhappy  Cor- 
nelia, with  the  young  Sextus  Pompeius,  who  had  recently 
beheld  the  death  of  the  husband  and  the  father  near  the  shore 
at  Pelusium.  The  account  which  he  received  of  this  event 
determined  him  to  return  towards  the  Roman  province  of 
Africa,  where  the  friends  of  the  republic  under  Varus, 
lately  received  an  accession  of  strength  by  the  junction  of 
Scipio  and  of  Labienus,  who  had  escaped  from  Piiarsalia. 

Cesar,  when  he  passed  into  Macedonia,  had  left  Italy  and 
the  western  provinces  in  a  state  not  likely,  in  his  absence, 
to  create  any  trouble.  At  Rome,  it  is  probable  that  few 
had  remained  besides  those  who  were  inclined  to  Cesar's 
party,  and  any  appearance  of  opposition  to  the  party  of 
Cesar,  was  easily  suppressed  upon  the  news  of  his  victory 
at  Pharsalia.  There  was  either  no  senate,  and  no  assembly 
of  the  people  to  resist  the  torrent  with  which  fortune  now 
ran  on  the  side  of  military  government.  Cesar  was,  by  a 
new  and  unheard-of  resolution,  made  consul  for  five  years, 
dictator  for  twelve  months,  and  vested  with  the  sacred 
character  of  tribune  for  life.  He  alone  was  appointed 
tt  preside  in  all  public  assemblies,  except  those  of  the  tribes, 
in  which  the  other  tribunes  bore  an  equal  part  with  himself. 

When  these  decrees  were  presented  to  Cesar,  then  in 
Egypt,  he  assumed  the  ensigns  and  power  of  dictator,  and 
appointed  Antony,  who  commanded  in  Italy,  general  of  the 
horse,  or  second  to  himself  in  the  empire.  The  reputation 
of  Cesar's  clemency  had  encouraged  many,  who  had  recently 
opposed  him,  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  to  return  to  their 
habitations,  trusting  to  this  character  of  him,  or  to  con- 
siderations more  particularly  applicable  to  themselves.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  victor  in  Cilicia,  Cassius  made  his  submis- 
sion, and  delivered  up  his  fleet.  Quintus  Cicero  went  to 
Asia,  to  make  his  peace  with  Cesar  ;  and  many,  expecting 
him  in  Italy,  resorted  thither  on  the  same  errand.* 

&a«h  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  end  of  the  year  cf 
Rome  705,  and  beginning  of  the  following  year,  which  13 
fisted  in  the  dictatorship  of  Caius  Cesar.  While  he  himsetf 


CH.  V1L]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  399 

ctill  remained  in  Egypt,  the  government  of  Italy  continued 
ka  the  hands  of  Antony.  All  orders  of  men  vied,  in  demon- 
strations of  joy,  for  the  success  of  the  victor,  and  for  the 
ascendant  which  his  party  had  gained.  All  government 
centred  in  the  person  of  Antony,  and  the  administration 
was  altogether  military.  He  himself,  immersed  in  debauch, 
was  ungracious  and  arrogant  to  citi/ens  of  the  highest  rank, 
and  deaf  to  all  the  complaints  that  were  made  of  the  vio- 
lence and  rapine  of  the  army. 

The  daily  expectation  of  Cesar's  arrival,  for  some  time, 
suspended  all  the  usual  factions  in  the  city,  and  suppressed 
Xhe  iiopes  and  designs  of  his  opponents  in  all  parts  of  the 
empire:  but  his  unexpected  stay  at  Alexandria,  and  the 
unfavourable  reports  of  his  situation,  began  to  turn  th» 
tide  of  popularity  at  Rome,  and  encouraged  the  remains  of 
the  late  republican  party,  now  forced  to  take  refuge  in 
Africa,  again  to  lift  up  its  head.  Dolabella,  a  young  man 
of  patrician  extraction,  observing  the  road  which  others  had 
taken,  to  arrive  at  power  in  the  commonwealth,  procured 
himself,  to  be  adopted  into  a  plebeian  family,  to  the  end 
that  he  might  be  legally  qualified  to  hold  the  office  of  tri- 
bune ;  and  having  succeeded  in  this  design,  revived  the 
wild  projects  by  which  the  worst  of  his  predecessors  had 
endeavoured  to  debauch  the  lower  ranks  of  the  people. 
The  troops  about  the  same  time  became  mutinous  in  their 
quarters ;  and  these  disorders  rose  or  fell  according  to  the 
reports  that  were  propagated  from  Asia  or  Egypt  relating 
to  the  state  of  Cesar's  affairs.  The  spirits  and  hopes  of  the 
late  republican  party,  which  yet  had  some  footing  in  Africa 
and  Spain,  likewise  fluctuated  in  the  same  manner. 

Cato  who  with  the  remains  of  the  republican  party  from 
Epirus,  had  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  being  informed 
that  Varus  still  held  the  Roman  province  on  this  continent 
in  the  name  of  the  republic,  that  Scipio  was  there,  and  thaf, 
the  king  of  Numidia  persisted  in  his  alliance  against  Cesar, 
immediately  joined  them,  The  spirit  of  the  republic  began 
tc  revive  in  Africa,  and  the  party  being  in  condition  to  re- 
ceive all  who  fled  to  them  for  protection,  and  having  the 
a^Iance  of  Juba,  the  most  powerful  prince  of  that  continent 
cost  became  formidable  both  by  sea  and  by  land  :  and  if  they 
kid  chosen  to  invade  Italy  in  the  absence  of  Cesar,  were  in 
rendition  to  have  regained  the  capital  of  the  empire.  Youn£ 
j?ompey  having,  at  the  same  time,  passed  into  Spain,  was 
favourably  received  by  his  father's  adherents  and  clients  in 
that  province,  and  profiting  by  the  misconduct  of  Quintui 
Cassius  in  those  parts,  was  likely  to  assemble  a  considerable 

fere* 


400  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

Gabimus,  who  commanded  for  Cesar  on  the  coast  of 
Illyricuin,  attempting  to  penetrate  by  land  into  Macedonia, 
was  cut  oft'  by  Octavius,  who  had  assembled  a  remnant  of 
Pompey's  army  on  the  confines  of  that  kingdom.  Domitius 
Calvinus,  whom  Cesar  had  appointed  to  command  in 
Bithynia,  had  received  a  defeat  from  Pharnaces  the  son  of 
Mithridates ;  and,  in  general,  the  state  of  his  affairs  in  other 
parts  of  the  empire  was  unfavourable. 

The  imperfect  accounts  which  remain  of  what  passed  in 
Egypt  during  this  interval,  are  as  follows:  Cesar,  at  hia 
arrival,  had  found  the  young  king  under  the  direction  of 
Pothinus  and  Ganimedes,  two  eunuchs,  who  had  the  care 
of  his  education.  The  party  of  Cleopatra  applied  to  Cesar 
for  his  protection ;  she  herself  passed  into  Egypt,  and  was 
introduced  to  his  presence.  This  celebrated  woman  was  then 
In  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  possessed  of  those  allurements  by 
which  she  made  different  conquerors  of  the  world,  in  their 
turns,  for  a  while  renounce  the  pursuits  of  ambition  for 
those  of  pleasure.  She  is  supposed  at  this  time  to  have  be- 
come the  mistress  of  Cesar,  and  to  have  made  him,  though 
turned  of  fifty  years,  to  forget  the  empire,  the  republic,  the 
factions  at  Rome,  and  the  armies  which  in  Africa  and  Spain 
were  assembling  against  him.  Under  the  dominion  of  hia 
passion  for  Cleopatra,  he  took  a  resolution  to  carry  into 
execution  the  destination  made  by  the  late  king,  and  in  the 
quality  of  Roman  consul  and  representative  of  the  Roman 
people,  to  whom  this  office  had  been  intrusted  by  the  will, 
he  commanded  both  parties  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  to 
submit  their  claims  to  his  own  arbitration.  Pothinus,  fear- 
Ing  the  total  exclusion  of  the  young  king,  his  pupil,  in 
favour  of  Cleopatra,  called  Achillas  with  the  army  to 
Alexandria,  in  order  to  defeat  Cesar's  purpose,  and  obliged 
him  to  leave  the  kingdom.  This  army  consisted  of  twenty 
thousand  men  of  the  army  with  which  Gabinius  had  rein- 
stated the  late  king,  inured  to  bloodshed  and  violence,  though 
long  divested  of  the  order  and  discipline  of  Roman  troops. 
Cesar,  hearing  of  their  approach,  and  not  being  in  condition 
to  meet  them  in  the  field,  seized  and  fortified  a  quarter  of 
the  town,  in  which  he  proposed  to  defend  himself.  Achillas 
being  arrived  at  Alexandria,  entered  the  city,  and  endea- 
voured to  force  Cesar's  quarters ;  but  being  repulsed,  took 
possession  of  that  part  of  the  town  which  was  open  to  him, 
and  blocked  up  the  remainder  both  by  sea  and  land.  The 
city  being  thus  divided,  the  Egyptians  and  Romans  fought 
in  the  streets,  and  from  the  houses  which  they  severally 
occupied.  Cesar,  as  he  despaired  of  being  able  to  receive  any 
succours  by  land,  endeavoured  to  keep  open  his  comniunicft- 


C».  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  401 

tlonby  sea,  and  sent  pressing  orders  to  Syria,  Cilicia,  Rhodes, 
And  Crete,  for  reinforcements  of  men  and  of  ships. 

The  scene  uas  frequently  changing-  by  the  intrigues  and 
the  treachery  of  different  parties  in  the  court.  Ganimedes 
supplanted  Achillas,  and  took  on  himself  the  command  of  th« 
army.  His  abilities  as  an  officer,  which  were  very  consider- 
able, and  his  bounty,  secured  to  him  the  affection  of  the 
toldiers.  He  continued  the  attack  t  n  Cesar's  quarters,  in 
till  the  ways  which  were  already  begun  by  his  predecessor. 
While  Cesar  counteracted  the  arts  which  were  employed  to 
distress  him,  the  eighteenth  legion,  with  a  considerable 
supply  of  provisions,  military  stores,  and  engines  of  war, 
being  arrived  on  the  coast,  but  unable  to  reach  Alexandria 
on  account  of  the  winds,  he  thought  proper  to  embark  and 
put  to  sea,  in  order  to  cover  this  reinforcement,  while  they 
made  for  the  port.  On  this  occasion  he  was  attacked  by 
the  Egyptian  fleet ;  but  gained  a  victory,  destroyed  a  great 
part  of  the  enemy's  ships,  and  brought  his  own  reinforcement 
safe  into  harbour.  Afterwards,  in  an  attack  on  the  Pharos, 
Cesar  succeeded  in  dislodging  the  enemy  ;  but  in  rashly  pur- 
suing his  advantage,  the  Egyptians  rallied,  mounted  the  mole, 
threw  those  who  were  upon  it  into  confusion,  and  forced 
them  over  the  quay  into  the  water,  or  into  their  boats. 
Cesar  himself  endeavoured  to  escape  in  a  boat,  but  fin- 
ally threw  himself  into  the  water,  and  swam  to  a  ship. 
In  this  tumult,  he  lost  four  hundred  men  of  the  legions,  and 
an  equal  number  of  the  fleet.  The  Egyptians  recovered  all 
the  ground  they  had  lost,  got  possession  again  of  the  tower 
at  the  head  of  the  mole,  and  of  the  island  which  secured 
their  ships. 

In  such  operations,  with  various  events,  the  parties  in 
Egypt  had  passed  the  winter  and  spring,  when  accounts 
were  brought  that  Mithridates  of  Pergamus,  whom  Cesar 
had  sent  to  procure  succours  from  Asia,  was  actually  arrived 
at  Pelusium  with  a  considerable  force  ;  on  this  Cesar  put 
flis  army  on  board  in  the  harbour,  and  having  an  open 
course  by  the  coast,  arrived  at  Pelusium,  and  on  joining 
Mithridatc*,  attacked  and  defeated  the  Egyptian  army, 
.jnmediately  after  this  action,  Cesar  returned  to  Alexandria, 
i»nd  having  received  the  submission  of  the  inhabitants,  made 
such  arrangements  as  he  thought  proper  in  the  succession 
to  the  throne  and  the  settlement  of  the  kingdom.  He  left 
great  part  of  the  army  to  support  this  new  establishment 
/  Egypt,  and  he  himself,  after  this  singular  interlude,  in 
^je  midst  of  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  empire,  marched 
Slth  a  legion  by  land  into  Syria.  At  Antioch,  he  received 
M&  reports  of  the  state  of  affairs,  as  required  his  presence 


402  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

in  different  quarters.  Nine  months  were  elapsed,  since  any 
orders  or  directions  had  been  received  from  him.  During 
this  time,  the  factions  of  the  city,  the  relaxation  of  discipline 
in  the  army,  and  the  threats  of  invasion  from  Africa,  had 
placed  his  affairs  in  such  a  state  of  hazard,  as  to  urge  his 
immediate  appearance  in  Italy  and  at  Rome  ;  but  he  thought 
it  of  consequence  to  his  authority  to  leave  no  enemy  behind 
him  in  the  field,  nor  to  suffer  the  remains  of  disorder  in  any 
of  the  provinces  through  which  he  was  to  pass.  At  Tarsus 
Cesar  held  a  convention  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of 
Cilicia,  and  from  thence  continued  his  route  to  the  frontiers 
of  Galatiaand  Pontus.  Hither  Dejotarus,  who  had  espoused 
the  cause  of  Pompey,  who  had  fought  under  his  banners  in 
Pharsalia,  and  who  by  the  gift  of  that  unfortunate  officer, 
still  retained  the  sovereignty  of  Galatia,  came  and  made  his 
submission. 

Being  joined  by  a  legion  which  Dejotarus  had  lately 
formed  in  the  Roman  manner,  Cesar  advanced  towards 
Pontus  and  Armenia,  from  which  Pharnaces,  the  son  of 
Mithridates,  had  ejected  that  prince.  Upon  the  victor's  ap- 
proach, Pharnaces  sent  forward  a  messenger  to  present  him, 
in  honour  of  his  late  victories,  with  a  crown  of  gold,  and 
made  offers  of  submission.  Cesar  demanded  the  instant  sur- 
render of  the  kingdom  of  Pontus,  and  full  reparation  of  all 
the  damages  sustained  by  any  Roman  citizens  settled  in 
that  province.  Pharnaces  professed  an  intention  to  comply 
with  these  demands  ;  but  under  various  pretences  delayed 
the  performance  of  his  promise.  He  had  fixed  on  a  hill  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Ziecla,  a  place  that  became  famous  by 
the  victory  which  his  father  Mithridates  had  there  obtained 
over  a  Roman  army  under  the  command  of  Triarius :  and 
in  order  to  secure  himself,  repaired  his  father's  lines.  Cesar 
advanced  to  an  eminence  separated  from  the  camp  of 
Pharnaces  only  by  a  narrow  valley  sunk  between  steep 
banks.  He  came  upon  this  ground  in  the  night,  and  began 
to  intrench  himself  when  Pharnaces  began  to  form  for  an 
attack.  Cesar,  imagining  that  he  only  meant  to  give  an 
alarm,  and  to  interrupt  his  workmen,  even  after  he  was  in 
motion  did  not  order  the  legions  to  desist  from  their  work, 
till  the  enemy  had  passed  both  banks  of  the  valley  to  attack 
him.  The  troops  of  Pharnaces  began  the  action  with  an 
ardour  that  was  suited  to  the  boldness  with  which  they 
had  advanced ;  and  Cesar's  contempt  of  their  designs  had 
nearly  exposed  him  to  a  defeat.  But  the  action,  which  was 
doubtful  everywhere  else,  was  decided  by  the  veterans  of 
the  sixth  legion,  before  whom  the  enemy  gave  way,  hurried 
with  precipitation  down  the  declivity,  and  fell  into  a 


Ca.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  403 

general  rout.  Pharnaces  fled  with  a  fe\v  attendants,  and 
narrowly  escaped  being-  taken.  This  victory  gave  Cesar 
an  opportunity  to  compare  his  own  glories  with  those  of 
Sylla,  of  Lucullus,  and  of  Pompey  ;  and  in  the  triumphs 
wliich  he  afterwards  led  in  the  sequel  of  these  wars,  the 
trophies  of  this  particular  victory  were  distinguished  by 
labels,  containing  these  words,  "  I  came,  I  saw,  I  van- 
quished." * 

Cesar,  having  appointed  Domitius  Calvinus  to  the  com- 
mand in  Asia,  set  out  by  Galatia  and  Bithynia  towards 
Greece,  in  his  way  to  Italy  ;  he  landed  at  Tarentum,  hav- 
ing been  near  two  years  absent  from  Rome.  Many  citizens 
had  waited  near  twelve  months  at  Brundusium,  in  anxious 
expectation  of  his  coming,  and  under  great  uncertainty  of 
the  reception  they  were  to  meet  with.  Cicero,  beinir  of 
this  number,  set  out  for  Tarentum  as  soon  as  he  heard  of 
Cesar's  arrival,  and  met  him  on  the  road.  When  he  pre- 
sented himself,  Cesar  alighted  from  his  carriage,  received 
him  with  marks  of  respect,  and  continued  to  walk  and  to 
discourse  with  him  aside  for  some  time.  This  distinguished 
orator  and  upright  statesman,  though  courted  by  Cesar, 
who  wished  to  have  the  credit  of  his  name  in  support  of 
the  measures  now  to  be  taken  at  Rome,  cnose  to  wundraw 
to  a  life  of  retirement,  and  devoted  his  time  to  literary 
amusements  and  studies.  At  this  time  he  probably  com- 
posed most  of  his  writings  on  the  subject  of  eloquence,  as 
he  did  some  time  afterwards  those  which  are  termed  his 
philosophical  works. 

Cesar  arrived  at  Rome  in  the  end  of  the  year  seven  hun- 
dred and  six  of  the  Roman  era,  in  which  he  had  been  named 
a  second  time  dictator,  t  Being  elected,  together  with  M. 
Kmilius,  consul  for  the  following  year,  he  applied  himself, 
for  a  little  time,  in  the  capacity  of  civil  magistrate,  to  the 
affairs  of  state ;  endeavoured  to  restore  the  tranquillity  of 
the  city,  and  stifle  the  unreasonable  hopes  of  a  general 
abolition  of  debts,  with  which  Dolahella  had  fluttered  tho 
more  profligate  part  of  the  community. 

\Vhile,  however,  he  appeared  to  be  intent  on  these  par- 
ticulars, his  thoughts  were  chiefly  occupied  in  preparing  to 
meet  the  war  which  the  remains  of  the  ancient  senate  and 
of  the  republican  army  were  resuming  against  him  in 
Africa.  This  province,  in  which  Varus  supported  by  tho 
king  of  Numidia,  had  been  liitherto  aide  to  keep  his  station 
as  an  officer  of  the  commonwealth,  was  now  heroine  th«» 
aole  or  the  principal  refuge  of  the  republican  party.  At 

*  The  famous  words,  Veni,  vidi,  rict.        t   U.  C.  706. 


404  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B,  IT. 

Utica,  many  officers  of  name  and  of  rank,  Labienus,  Afra- 
nius,  Petreius,  as  well  as  Scipio  and  Cato,  with  all  the 
remains  they  had  saved  from  the  wreck  at  Pharsalia,  were 
now  ready  to  renew  the  war.  These  leaders  of  the  re- 
publican party  having  a  considerable  force  at  sea,  and 
having1  access  to  all  the  ports,  not  only  of  Africa,  but 
likewise  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Spain,  had  furnished  them- 
selves plentifully  with  all  the  necessaries  for  war.  They 
had  mustered  ten  leg-ions,  which,  according  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  that  time,  may  have  amounted  to  fifty  thousand 
Roman  foot.  They  had  twenty  thousand  African  horse,  a 
great  body  of  archers  and  slingers,  with  a  hundred  and 
twenty  elephants.  They  expected  to  be  joined  by  the  king 
of  Numidia,  who,  to  the  established  character  of  his  coun- 
trymen for  stratagem  and  valour,  joined  the  glory  of  his 
late  victory  over  Curio ;  and  was  supposed  to  muster,  at 
this  time,  besides  numerous  bodies  of  horse,  of  archers,  of 
shngers,  and  a  great  troop  of  elephants,  thirty  thousand 
foot,  armed  and  marshalled,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  man- 
ner of  the  Roman  legion.  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Africa  when  Cesar,  who,  with  all  his  military  character  and 
authority,  now  again  experienced  the  difficulty  of  com- 
manding mere  soldiers  of  fortune,  taught  to  divest  them- 
selves of  civil  principle,  or  regard  to  public  duty,  was  likely 
to  perish  in  a  mutiny  of  his  own  army,  and  to  end  his  ca- 
reer by  the  swords  which  he  himself  had  whetted  against 
the  republic.  The  legions,  which  after  the  defeat  of  Pom- 
pey  had  been  ordered  into  Italy,  being  stationed  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Capua,  from  whence  it  was  expected 
they  should  embark  for  Africa,  broke  out  in  open  mutiny, 
decamped  without  orders,  and  marched  towards  Rome, 
where  they  were  quelled  with  some  difficulty. 

Cesar  having  ordered  troops  and  shipping  from  different 
quarters  of  Italy  to  assemble  at  Lillybaeum,  from  whence 
he  had  the  shortest  passage  to  Africa ;  he  himself  arrived 
there  on  the  thirtieth  of  September,  found  no  more  of  his 
army  arrived  than  one  legion,  and  remained  some  weeks 
wind-bound.  But  while  he  continued  thus  situated,  ha 
n-a*  joined  successively  by  a  number  of  legions,  which  he 
ordered  to  embark  as  fast  as  they  arrived.  Being  in  this 
state  of  readiness  with  six  legions,  or  about  thirty  thousand 
foot,  together  with  two  thousand  horse  ;  and  the  wind 
coming  fair,  he  set  sail  for  the  nearest  land  in  Africa.  Soon 
after  he  got  to  sea  a  storm  arose,  which  dispersed  the  fleet ; 
he  himself,  with  the  ships  that-still  kept  him  company,  after 
being  tossed  four  days  in  a  passage  of  no  more  than  twenty 
leagues,  grot  under  the  land  of  the  promontory  of  Mercury, 


Cm.  Vll.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  405 

and  from  thence,  to  avoid  the  forces  of  the  enemy,  which 
were  stationed  near  Utica  and  round  the  bay  of  Carthage, 
steered  to  the  southward. 

The  coast  of  Africa,  from  this  cape  about  two  hundred 
miles,  extending1  directly  to  the  south,  abounds  with  con- 
siderable towns,  which,  on  account  of  their  commerce, 
were  anciently  called  the  Emporiae.  Adrumetum  lay  on 
one  side  of  a  spacious  bay,  bounded  by  the  head  of  Clupea 
on  the  north,  and  that  of  Vada  on  the  south.  The  southern 
coast  of  this  bay  contained,  besides  Adrumetum,  the  fol- 
lowing- sea-ports  :  Ruspina,  Leptis,  and  Thapsus ;  the  bay 
itself  extending  from  the  first  of  these  places  to  the  last, 
about  thirty-six  miles.  Scipio  had  secured  AdrumetuM 
and  Thapsus,  being-  the  extremity  of  this  line,  with  consid 
crable  forces.  In  order  to  render  the  province  unfit  foy 
the  reception  of  an  enemy,  he  had  laid  waste  the  country, 
and  had  collected  all  the  provisions  and  forage  into  these 
and  other  places  of  strength  for  the  use  of  his  own  army. 

Considius  being  stationed  at  Adrumetum  with  tw* 
legions,  and  Virgilius  with  a  proper  force  at  Thapsus,  the 
ports  of  Ruspina  and  Leptis,  as  well  as  many  of  the  inland 
towns,  were  intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  their  own  inhabi- 
tants. Cato  was  stationed  at  Utica  as  the  last  retreat  of 
the  Roman  senate,  the  centre  of  all  their  resources,  and  tha 
seat  of  their  councils.  Scipio  had  collected  the  main  body 
of  his  army  near  to  the  same  place,  supposed  to  be  the 
principal  object  of  any  attempt  that  might  be  made  from 
Italy.  Labienus  and  Petreius  had  separate  bodies,  at 
proper  stations,  to  guard  the  inlets  of  the  coast  round  the 
bay  of  Carthage.  Varus  had  the  direction  of  the  fleet.  He 
had  kept  the  sea  during  summer  and  on  the  approach  of 
autumn,  but  had  then  withdrawn  to  Utica,  and  laid  up  his 
ships  for  the  stormy  season. 

Cesar  seems  to  have  had  no  information  to  direct  him  on 
us  approach  to  the  coast,  besides  the  general  report  that 
the  enemy  were  strongest  in  the  bay  of  Carthage.  In  this 
belief  he  passed  the  headlands  of  Clupea  and  Neapolis,  ami 
stood  in  to  the  bay  of  Adrumetum,  where  he  was  received 
by  Considius,  with  a  force  greatly  superior  to  that  which 
IK*  hunself  had  brought  to  the  coast.  But  so  little  had  he 
attended  to  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  or  so  much  was  he 
determined  to  brave  it.  that  he  landed  near  Adrumetum  on 
the  nominal  first  of  January,  or  about  the  middle  of  Octo- 
ber, with  three  thousand  foot  and  a  hundred  and  fifty 
horse.*  Cousidius,  instead  of  taking  measures  to  crush  so 

*  K.  C.  6. 
K   K 


406  HISTORY  OF  THE  t*    IV 

inferior  on  enemy  before  he  should  receive  any  reinforce- 
ment, thtoigla  of  nothing'  but  how  to  secure  liimself  from 
Kirprics  ;  iiid  Coss*r,  to  confirm  liim  in  this  disposition,  sent 
him  a  summons  to  surrender  at  discretion,  endeavouring-  to 
corrupt  or  gain  him  by  an  insinuating  message ;  but  this  offi- 
cer, being  more  a  man  of  integrity  than  he  had  shown  himself 
to  be  an  able  general,  ordered  the  bearer  of  the  message 
to  be  put  to  death,  and  sent  the  letter  unopened  to  Scipio. 

Cesar  having  received  no  return  to  his  message,  deter- 
mined, on  the  day  after  lie  landed,  to  remove  to  some  place 
of  greater  security.  With  this  view  he  marched  to  the 
southward,  and  though  harassed  in  his  rear  by  the  enemy's 
horse,  continued  his  inarch  without  any  considerable  inter- 
ruption or  loss.  As  he  advanced  to  Leptis,  he  was  received 
by  the  inhabitants,  and  found  it  a  convenient  post  for  the 
reception  of  his  transports ;  and  a  few  of  them  accordingly, 
having  some  cohorts  of  foot  and  troops  of  horse  on  board, 
put  in  to  the  harbour.  By  the  report  of  persons  who  came 
hi  these  ships  he  learned,  that  numbers  of  the  fleet,  after 
parting  company,  appeared  to  be  steering  for  Utica. 

In  a  state  of  anxious  suspense,  occasioned  by  these  cir- 
cumstances, Cesar  determined  to  keep  his  footing  in  Africa, 
he  landed  his  cavalry,  and  took  the  necessary  measures  to 
procure  supplies  of  provisions  by  sea.  He  sent  back  the 
empty  transports  to  receive  any  troops  that  might  be 
arrived  at  Lillybaeum,  and  ordered  ten  galleys  from  the 
harbour  at  Leptis  to  cruise  for  the  missing  ships  of  his  last 
embarkation.  He  despatched  expresses  to  Sardinia  and 
other  maritime  provinces,  with  orders  to  hasten  the  rein- 
forcements of  troops  and  the  supplies  of  provisions  which 
were  expected  from  thence ;  and  having  intelligence  that 
the  enemy  had  some  magazines  in  the  island  of  Cercina, 
near  the  coast  of  Africa,  lie  sent  thither  Crispus  Sallust,  the 
celebrated  historian,  now  serving  in  his  army,  to  endeavour 
to  secure  those  magazines  for  his  use.  Being  unprovided 
of  every  necessary  for  the  support  of  a  garrison,  he  deter- 
mined to  try  what  provisions  could  be  found  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood to  subsist  his  troops  till  they  could  be  otherwise 
supplied,  or  enabled  to  penetrate  farther  into  the  country. 
As  soon  as  he  had  effected  this  service,  he  went  in  person 
in  search  of  the  transports,  on  board  of  which  the  greater 
part  of  his  army  was  dispersed.  Having  past  the  night  on 
board,  and  at  break  of  day  being  about  to  weigh,  some 
vessels  came  in  sight,  and  were  known  to  be  a  part  of  the 
fleet  wliich  he  so  anxiously  looked  for,  with  the  greater  part 
of  six  legions  with  wliich  he  had  originally  sailod  from 
Lillvbaenm. 


Cl.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  407 

In  the  mean  time  it  appears,  that  Labienus  and  Petreius, 
commanding1  the  horse  and  light  troops  of  Scipio's  army, 
having1  intelligence  that  Cesar  was  landed,  with  the  utmost 
diligence  assembled  their  forces,  and  marched  towards  the 
coast  from  which  they  had  received  the  alarm.  Cesar  had 
taken  a  defensive  station  behind  the  town  of  Kuspina,  the 
place  which  he  chose  for  the  resort  and  safe  reception  of 
his  convoys  and  reinforcements  by  sea,  but  had  l<»ft  his 
camp  on  some  excursion,  when  the  republican  forces  made 
tlu«ir  appearance.  An  action  began  in  front  by  a  scattered 
charge  of  the  Numidian  horse,  who  pressed  Cesar's  infantry 
from  the  Hanks  to  the  centre,  so  that  they  were  forced  into 
a  circle,  without  any  distinction  of  front  or  rear,  and  were 
galled  with  a  continual  discharge  of  missiles,  which  did 
great  execution.  Cesar,  in  this  difficult  situation,  making 
a  front  in  both  directions,  charged  the  enemy  on  the  oppo- 
site sides,  and  drove  them  in  both  ways  to  a  distance  from 
the  ground.  Without  attempting,  however,  to  improve  his 
advantage,  or  to  urge  the  pursuit,  he  took  the  opportunity 
of  the  enemy's  flight  to  effect  his  own  retreat,  and  fell  back 
to  the  camp  behind  liuspma,  from  which  he  had  moved  in 
the  morning. 

While  Cesar  remained  in  this  post,  Scipio  arrived  at 
Adrumetum,  and  having  halted  there  a  few  days,  joined 
Labienus  and  Petreius  in  the  station  they  had  chosen,  about 
mree  miles  from  the  town  of  Ruspina.  Their  cavalry  im- 
mediately overran  the  country,  and  interrupted  the  sup- 
plies which  Cesar  derived  from  thence.  The  space  he  had 
inclosed  with  his  entrenchments  being-  about  six  square 
miles,  was  soon  exhausted  even  of  forage  or  pasture,  and 
his  horses  reduced  to  feed  on  sea  weed.  Scipio,  though 
disappointed  of  the  great  accession  of  force  which  he  ex- 
pected to  receive  by  the  junction  of  Juba,  and  though  even 
somewhat  reduced  in  his  former  numbers,  continued  to  act 
on  the  offensive  ;  and  to  form  his  army  on  the  pliiin  between 
the  two  camps.  Cesar  could  not  resent  this  insult,  but 
found  a  consolation  in  having  frequent  deserters  from  the 
African  army,  and  deputations  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  with  professions  of  attachment  to  himself  as  the 
relation  of  Manns,  whose  memory  was  still  recent  and  po- 
pular in  that  province. 

He  had  an  additional  came  of  satisfaction  in  the  circum- 
stance that  Salln-t  had  succeeded  in  the  dt-ign  upon  which 
he  had  been  sent  to  the  island  of  Cercina,  and  was  able  to 
furnish  a  considerable  supply  of  provisions  from  thence. 
There  arrived  at  the  same  time  a  large  convoy  and  fleet  of 
transports,  having  on  board  two  entire  legions,  together  with 


408  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  IV. 

cavalry,  archers  nnd  slingers,  and  a  large  supply  of  provi- 
sions. These  supplies  and  reinforcements  at  once  relieved 
Cesar's  army  from  the  distress  which  they  suffered ;  and  by 
so  great  an  accession  of  strength,  amounting  to  twelve 
thousand  men,  put  him  in  condition  to  break  from  the  con- 
finement in  which  he  had  some  time  remained,  and  to  act 
on  the  offensive. 

The  first  object  upon  this  change  in  his  affairs,  was  to 
seize  upon  some  rising  grounds  in  the  neighbourhood  which 
Scipio  had  neglected  to  occupy,  and  to  connect  them  as 
a  chain  of  fortified  posts.  This  was  part  of  a  ridge,  which 
runs  parallel  to  the  coast,  at  a  few  miles'  distance  from  the 
shore,  and  which,  on  the  north  of  Ruspina,  turns  in  the 
form  of  an  amphitheatre  round  a  plain  of  about  fifteen  miles' 
extent.  Near  the  middle  of  this  plain  stood  the  town  of 
Uzita,  on  the  brink  of  a  deep  marshy  tract,  which  is  formed 
by  the  water  of  some  rivulets  that  fall  from  the  mountains, 
nnd  spread  upon  the  plain  in  that  place.  Scipio  had  posted 
a  garrison  in  the  town,  and  had  occupied  the  ridge  on  one 
side  of  the  amphitheatre  beyond  the  marsh,  but  had  neglected 
the  heights,  of  which  Cesar  now  took  possession.  As  soon 
as  this  work  was  finished,  he  formed  in  order  of  battle,  to 
return  the  defiance  which  the  enemy  had  so  often  given  him, 
while  he  lay  in  the  lines  of  Ruspina;  and  observing  that 
Scipio  remained  in  his  camp,  he  marched  on  to  the  town  of 
Uzita,  which  lay  between  the  two  armies.  Scipio  being 
alarmed  for  the  safety  of  this  place,  at  which  he  had  deposited 
some  part  of  his  magazines,  advanced  to  sustain  the  troops 
he  had  posted  in  the  town;  and  both  armies  having  re- 
mained in  this  posture  till  sunset,  returned  at  night  to  their 
respective  camps. 

Cesar  still  persisting  in  his  design  to  oblige  the  enemy  to 
hazard  a  battle  in  defence  of  Uzita,  commenced  to  make 
double  lines  of  approach  from  his  present  camp  to  the  town. 
As  soon  as  this  lane  was  effected  to  within  the  necessary 
distance  of  the  walls,  he  threw  up  in  front  a  breast  work 
opposite  to  the  ramparts  of  the  town,  and  from  thence 
began  to  construct  the  works  that  were  usually  employed 
in  the  reduction  of  fortified  places. 

During  the  dependance  of  this  siege,  both  parties  received 
great  reinforcements.  Scipio  was  joined  by  the  king  of 
Numidia,  with  three  bodies  of  regular  infantry,  formed  in 
the  manner  of  the  Roman  legion,  eight  hundred  heavy 
armed  or  bridled  cavalry,  with  a  great  multitude  of  light  or 
irregular  troops.  Cesar's  army,  on  the  appearance  of  this 
new  enemy,  were  much  discouraged,  but  were  themselves 
loon  after  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  two  more  legions. 


C«.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  409 

who  had  suffered  many  days  from  sickness,  want  of  pro- 
Tisions,  and  of  water. 

The  other  incidents  which  are  dated  by  historians  during 
the  dependance  of  the  siege  of  U/ita,  do  not  serve  to  m;*ke 
us  acquainted  with  its  progress,  or  with  the  detail  of  its 
operations.  The  season  we  are  told  was  stormy,  and 
Cesar's  army  were  now  without  any  covering,  besides 
their  shields,  exposed  to  heavy  rains  and  hail,  accompanied 
with  thunder  and  fire.  Cesar,  nevertheless,  persisted  in  the 
attack  of  U/ita,  and  seemed  still  to  flatter  himself  that  the 
defence  of  this  place  would  lay  the  enemy  under  some  dis- 
advantage, which  might  furnish  him  with  an  opportunity 
to  decide  the  war.  The  armies  were  accordingly  often 
drawn  out  in  order  of  battle,  and  were  present  at  partial 
engagements  of  their  cavalry  or  irregular  troops,  but  with- 
out any  general  action.  Being  greatly  circumscribed  by 
the  superiority  of  the  enemy's  light  troops,  he  suffered  con- 
siderably in  his  camp  from  scarcity  of  provisions ;  and  being 
in  his  present  operations  against  U/ita,  to  fight  with  a 
numerous  army,  in  detail,  behind  the  walls  of  a  fortified 
town,  without  being  ab'e  to  engage  them  upon  equal  terms 
in  any  decisive  action,  he  took  his  resolution  to  discontinue 
the  siege. 

The  retreat  of  Cesar  was  sufficient  to  confirm  the  leaders 
of  the  republican  party,  in  the  hopes  they  had  formed  of 
being  able  to  wear  him  out  by  a  dilatory  war.  For  some 
time  after  this,  of  course,  there  were  many  skirmishes  and 
partial  engagements,  but  no  general  action. 

In  these  Cesar's  cavalry  generally  gave  way  to  that  of 
the  Africans.  Even  the  legions  stood  greatly  in  awe  of  the 
Numidian  irregulars,  by  whom  they  were,  on  many  occa- 
tions,  surprised  with  some  new  feat  of  agility  or  cunning; 
and  they  were  considerably  intimidated  by  the  number  and 
formidable  appearance  of  the  elephants  which  they  knew 
not  how  to  withstand.  The  campaign  drew  on  to  the 
middle  of  February,  and  had  lasted  about  five  months 
Before  any  thing  very  important  took  place ;  during  this 
time  Cesar  had  surmounted  very  great  dirticulties,  arising 
from  the  dispersion  of  his  fleet,  the  uncertainty  of  his  «-om- 
uiunicatiou  with  Italy,  and  the  scarcity  of  provisions  in  a 
country  bud  waste  or  possessed  by  his  cm-mirs.  He  wan 
now  become  master  of  many  towns  on  the  coast,  and  of  a 
considerable  extent  of  territory ;  but  from  the  many  object* 
which  required  his  attention  in  dijfcrcnt  jwrts  of  tin*  empire, 
be  remained  under  gre;it  disadvantage  in  supi>ortiiig  ;i  dila- 
tory war,  in  which  it  appeared  that  Scipio  and  Labienus 
#t>re  resolved  to  persist.  In  order,  if  possible,  to  break 


410  HISTOKY  OF  TH*.  [13.  IV. 

their  measures,  he  formed  a  design  upon  Thapsus,  their 
principal  garrison  aud  seaport  on  the  southern  boundaries 
of  the  province.  With  this  view  he  directed  his  march  to 
the  southward,  arrived  before  Thapsus  on  the  following  day, 
seized  all  the  avenues  which  led  to  the  town,  and  invested 
it  completely  from  the  land. 

Scipic  and  Juba,  greatly  interested  to  preserve  a  place  of 
so  much  consequence,  put  their  armies  in  motion,  and,  to 
counteract  the  design  of  Cesar,  followed  him  by  another 
route.  Seeing  him  invest  Thapsus,  they  took  post  on 
two  separate  heights,  about  eight  miles  from  the  town. 
Cesar,  with  his  usual  industry  and  despatch,  executed  lines 
both  of  circumvallation  and  of  countervallation.  By  these 
lines,  which  were  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  terminating  at 
both  ends  in  the  sea,  he  embraced  the  town,  and  proposed 
to  encamp  his  army  between  them. 

Scipio  remaining  on  the  same  ground  all  night,  took  his 
resolution  to  encamp,  and  at  break  of  day  appeared  to  bo 
forming  the  usual  intrenchments.  Cesar  had  then  probably 
completed  his  own  works;  and  thinking  the  opportunity 
fair,  or  being  determined  not  to  suffer  the  enemy  to  effect 
a  lodgment  in  his  presence,  he  made  the  usual  signal  to 
prepare  for  action ;  and  leaving  a  proper  force  to  man  his 
intrenchments  against  the  tow  n,  drew  out  the  remainder 
of  his  army  to  the  field,  ordered  part  of  his  fleet  to  get 
under  sail,  to  turn  a  headland  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy; 
and  as  soon  as  the  action  began  in  front,  to  alarm  them  with 
shouts,  or  a  feint  to  land  and  to  attack  their  rear.  Having 
made  these  dispositions,  he  put  his  army  in  motion,  and 
being  come  near  enough  to  distinguish  the  posture  of  the 
enemy,  observed,  that  their  main  body  was  already  in  order 
of  battle,  with  the  elephants  disposed  on  the  wings;  and 
that  numerous  parties  were  still  at  work  on  the  lines 
within  which  they  meant  to  encamp.  He  halted,  and  made 
a  disposition  suitable  to  that  of  the  enemy.  His  centre 
consisted  of  five  legions,  his  wings  each  of  four.  Five 
cohorts,  together  with  the  cavalry,  were  selected  to  support 
the  archers  and  slingers  that  were  to  begin  the  attack  on 
the  enemy's  elephants.  The  battle  began  on  the  right, 
where  the  enemy's  elephants  being  galled  with  a  shower 
of  arrows  and  stones,  reeled  back  on  the  troops  that  were 
appointed  to  sustain  them,  trode  part  of  the  infantry  under- 
foot, and  broke  over  the  unfinished  intrenchments  in  their 
rear. 

The  left  of  Scipio's  army  being  thus  routed,  the  main 
body  soon  after  gave  way ;  and  the  whole  fled  to  the  camp, 
which  they  had  formerly  occupied ;  but,  in  their  flight, 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  411 

being-  thro\m  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and  separated 
from  their  officers,  they  arrived  at  the  place  to  which  they 
fled,  without  any  person  of  rank  to  rally  or  command  them. 
In  this  state  of  consternation  they  threw  down  their  arms, 
and  attempted  to  take  refuge  in  the  camp  of  their  Numi- 
dian  ally.  But  this  being-  already  in  possession  of  the 
enemy,  they  continued  their  flight  to  the  nearest  heights; 
and  being  without  arms,  awaited  their  fate  in  a  state  ol 
helpless  despair.  When  they  saw  the  troops  that  pursued 
them  advance,  they  made  sig-ns  of  submission,  and  saluted 
the  victors  with  a  shout ;  but  in  vain.  They  were  instantly 
attacked  by  the  victorious  army  of  Cesar,  who,  though 
affecting  clemency  on  former  occasions,  now  seemed  to  be 
actuated  with  a  paroxysm  of  rage  and  thirst  of  blood ; 
contrary  to  the  orders  and  entreaties  of  their  general,  they 
put  the  whole  unanned  and  defenceless  multitude  to  the 
sword.  They  are  said  on  this  occasion,  also  to  have  sei/ed 
the  opportunity  of  satiating  their  revenge  on  some  of  their 
own  officers  who  had  offended  them.  One  was  actually 
murdered,  another,  being  wounded,  fled  to  Cesar  for  pro- 
tection ;  and  many  persons  of  distinction,  senators  and 
Roman  knights,  observing  their  danger,  thought  proper  to 
withdraw  to  some  place  of  concealment,  till  the  fury  of  the 
troops  should  abate. 

When  this  memorable  action  was  over,  Cesar  appointed 
Caius  Rubellius,  with  three  legions,  to  continue  the  siege 
of  Thapsus,  and  Cneius  Domitius,  with  two  others,  to 
reduce  Tysdra ;  and  having  sent  forward  M.  Messala, 
with  a  body  of  horse  on  the  road  to  Utica,  he  himself  fol- 
lowed with  the  remainder  of  the  army.  At  Utica  were 
assembled,  from  every  part  of  the  empire,  all  who  were 
obnoxious  to  Cesar,  or  who,  from  a  zeal  for  the  republic, 
had  refused  to  submit  to  his  power.  On  the  third  day  aftef 
the  battle,  towards  night,  a  person  who  had  escaped  from 
the  field  of  battle  coming  to  Utica,  this  unhappy  convention 
of  citizens  was  struck  with  the  greatest  alarm.  Most  ol 
the  senators,  who  were  in  the  town,  took  shipping  and 
escaped.  Lucius  Cesar  undertook  to  carry  to  his  kinsman 
a  petition  from  such  of  the  Roman  citizens  as  remained  ; 
and  said  to  Cato,  at  parting,  that  ho  would  gladly  fall  at 
the  victor's  feet  to  make  his  peace.  To  which  Cato  an- 
swered, "  If  I  were  disposed  to  make  my  peace  with  Cesar, 
I  should  repair  to  him  in  person  ;  but  I  have  done  him  no 
wrong,  I  am  not  an  object  of  his  pardon,  and  shall  not 
request  what  it  were  insolence  in  him  to  otter  me  as  a 
favour."  Having  passed  the  day  in  aiding  his  friends  to 
procure  the  means  of  their  escape,  he  weiit  to  the  bath,  and 


412  HISTORY,  &c.  [B.  IV. 

supped  as  usual,  without  any  marks  of  dejection  or  affecta- 
tion of  ease  ;  and  being-  retired  to  his  chamber,  after  some 
time  which  he  employed  in  reading,  he  killed  himself.  HU 
attendants,  upon  hearing  a  noise  which  alarmed  them, 
burst  open  the  door,  and  would  have  dressed  the  wound, 
but  he  tore  it  up  with  his  hand,  and  expired  in  making  thia 
effort.  On  the  first  report  of  his  death,  multitudes  crowded 
to  the  door  of  his  quarters,  and  gave  the  most  unfeigned 
demonstrations  of  dejection  and  sorrow. 

Cato  died  in  the  vigour  of  life,  under  fifty ;  he  was  natu 
rally  warm  and  affectionate  in  his  temper ;  comprehensive, 
impartial,  and  strongly  possessed  with  the  love  of  mankind, 
But,  in  his  conduct,  probably  became  independent  of  passion 
of  any  sort,  and  chose  what  was  just  on  its  own  account. 
He  professed  to  believe,  with  the  sect  whose  tenets  he 
embraced,  that  it  might  or  might  not,  in  particular  cir- 
cumstances, be  expedient  for  a  man  to  preserve  or  lay 
down  his  life :  but  that,  while  he  kept  it,  the  only  good  or 
evil  competent  to  him  consisted  in  the  part  which  he  took, 
as  a  friend  or  an  enemy  to  mankind.  He  had  long  foreseen 
the  dangers  to  which  the  republic  was  exposed,  and  deter- 
mined to  live  only  while  he  could  counteract  the  designs 
that  were  formed  against  it.  The  leader  of  the  successful 
party  thought  proper  to  apologise  for  himself,  by  decrying 
the  virtues  of  Cato ;  but  the  bulk  of  mankind,  in  his  own 
and  the  subsequent  ages,  were  equally  pleased  to  extol 
them ;  and  he  is  a  rare  example  of  merit,  which  received 
its  praise  even  amidst  the  adulation  that  was  paid  to  his 
enemies;  and  was  thought,  by  the  impartial,  equally  above 
the  reach  of  commendation  or  censure. 


THI 

HISTORY 

OF  TUB 

PROGRESS  AND    TERMINATION 

OF  TUB 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK    V. 

CHAP.  I. 

Wreck  ojthe  Republican  Party  -Servility  of  the  Roman  People— Nag*, 
ficence  and  Administration  of  Cesar — Hit  latt  Campaign  in  Spain- 
Death  of  the  elder  of  Pompey't  Son*—  Cesar' t  Return,  Triumpht,  Hon- 
ourt.and  Policy  in  the  State  -  Spirit  of  the  timet—  Source  oj  the  Con- 
ipiracy  against  Cesar— lit progrett— Death  o/ Cetar. 

WHEN  Cesar  was  informed,  on  his  march  from  Thapeus, 
that  of  all  the  principal  men  of  the  opposite  party,  Cato 
alone  remained  at  Utica  to  receive  him,  he  was  at  a  loss  to 
interpret  his  conduct,  and  possibly  might  have  found  it 
difficult  to  determine  how  he  should  deal  with  an  antagonist, 
whom  he  neither  could  reconcile  to  his  usurpation,  nor 
treat  as  a  criminal. 

Ha  however  advanced  thither  with  all  expedition.  Hav- 
ing passed  through  Uzita  and  Adrumetum,  which  surrend- 
ered to  him  on  his  march,  and  being  met  by  numbers  who 
came  to  make  their  submission,  he  arrived  at  Utica  in  the 
evening,  and  continued  all  night  without  the  gates.  Marcus 
Messala  had  already  taken  possession  of  the  town.  Cesar 
entered  on  the  following  day.  Appian  says,  that  as  many 
of  the  republicans  as  fell  into  his  hands  were  by  his  order 
put  to  death.  Hirtius  relates,  that  he  only  confiscated  tlu>ir 
effects.  From  this  general  wreck  of  the  republican  party 
in  Africa,  the  leaders  contimuMl  their  flight  in  ditlcrciit 
directions.  Afranius  and  Faustus  Sylla  having  joined  a 
party  of  cavalry  that  Hod  by  Utica  from  the  field  of  battle 
were  intercepted,  taken  prisoner*,  and  put  to  death. 


414  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

Scipio,  with  Damasippus,  Torquatus,  and  Pletorius  Rua- 
tianus,  endeavoured  to  escape  by  sea  into  Spain ;  but  were 
captved  near  Hippo,  on  the  coast  of  Numidia,  by  a  squad- 
ron of  Cesar's  fleet,  when  Scipio  stabbed  himself  and  fell 
headlong-  into  the  sea.  Juba,  with  Petreius,  having  escaped 
from  the  field  of  battle  at  Thapsus,  lay  concealed  by  day, 
and  continued  their  flight  in  the  night  towards  Zama,  a 
place  which,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  the  king  of 
Numidia  had  fortified,  and  made  the  residence  of  his  women 
and  the  repository  of  his  treasure  and  most  valuable  effects. 
On  reaching  that  town,  th»  inhabitants  shut  their  gates  and 
refused  them  admittance,  when  they  retired  to  one  of  Juba's 
country  seats ;  and  having  ordered  a  splendid  entertainment, 
at  the  close  of  it  they  fell  together  by  their  own  swords. 
The  kingdom  of  Numidia  was  converted  into  a  Roman  pro- 
vince, and  the  government  of  it  was  committed  to  Sallust 
the  historian. 

Cesar  having,  in  this  manner,  closed  a  scene  in  which  he 
had  destroyed  fifty  thousand  of  his  opponents,  who  might 
be  supposed  to  be  the  most  obstinate  adherents  of  the  re- 
publican party,  embarked  atUtica  for  Italy  about  the  middle 
of  summer.  Before  his  departure  from  Africa  he  had  made 
the  necessary  arrangements  respecting  the  army,  the  greater 
part  of  it  being  ordered  to  proceed  in  the  voyage  to  Spain, 
where  he  had  still  some  resistance  to  apprehend  from  the 
sons  of  Pompey. 

The  news  of  Cesar's  victory  had  been  some  time  received, 
and  nothing  now  remained,  but  that  he  should  take  posses- 
sion of  that  sovereignty  to  which  he  aspired-  Whatever 
distress  the  surviving  members  of  the  commonwealth  may 
have  suffered  on  the  loss  of  their  relations  and  friends,  who 
had  fallen- in  the  late  bloody  transactions  of  this  war,  or 
whatever  mortification  they  may  have  felt  on  the  loss  of 
their  own  political  consequence,  as  partners  in  the  empire 
of  the  world,  no  symptoms  of  aversion,  or  unwilling  sub- 
mission, appeared  on  the  part  of  the  people ;  all  orders  of 
men  hastened  to  pay  their  court  to  the  victor,  and  by  their 
servile  adulations,  to  anticipate  the  state  of  degradation  into 
which  they  were  soon  to  be  reduced. 

In  the  name  of  the  senate  and  people  e  continual  thanks- 
giving of  forty  days  was  decreed  for  the  late  victory  at 
Thapsus.  The  pow  er  of  di  ctator  was  conferred  on  Cesar  for 
ten  years,  audthat  of  censor,  which  gave  the  supreme  disposal 
of  honours  and  rank  in  the  commonwealth,  and  which,  on 
account  of  the  abuse  to  which  it  was  subject,  had  been  some 
time  abolished,  was  now  under  a  new  title,  that  of  Prefectus 
Morum,  restored  in  his  person.  At  the  same  time  the*  uo» 


Cll.  I.]         .        ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  415 

initiation  o  some  of  the  officers  of  state,  formerly  elected  by 
the  peonle,  was  committed  to  him.  It  was  likewise  ordered, 
that  he  should  have  in  the  senate  a  gilded  chair  of  state, 
placed  next  to  that  of  the  consul ;  and  several  other  ridicu- 
lous honours  were  conferred  on  him.  It  is  said  that  he  re- 
fused many  of  the  honours  which  were  decreed  to  him  ;  but 
in  those  which  he  favourably  received,  he  sufficiently 
betrayed  a  vanity  which  but  rarely  accompanies  such  a  dis- 
tinguished superiority  of  understanding1.  He  was  one  merely 
of  the  vulgar,  and  condescended  to  be  vain  of  titles  and 
honours,  which  he  has  shared  with  persons  of  the  meanest 
capacity. 

Cesar,  soon  after  the  distinctions  now  mentioned  were 
bestowed  upon  him,  addressed  himself  to  the  Roman  senate 
and  people,  in  a  speech  which,  being  supposed  to  proceed 
from  a  master,  was  full  of  condescension  and  lenity,  but 
from  a  fellow  citizen,  was  fraught  with  insult  and  con- 
tumely. It  conveyed,  not  the  indignant  and  menacing 
spirit  of  Sylla,  who  despised  the  very  power  of  which  he 
was  possessed  ;  but  the  conscious  state  and  reflecting  con- 
descension of  a  prince  who  admired  and  wished  to  recom- 
mend his  greatness.  The  Roman  people,  in  former  instances 
of  usurpation,  had  experienced  sanguinary  and  violent 
treatment,  and  they  now  seemed  to  bear  with  indifference 
the  entire  suppression  of  their  political  rights,  when  exe- 
cuted by  hands,  that  refrained  from  cruel  proscriptions. 

The  populace  were  gratified  with  shows,  processions,  and 
feasts,  and  with  the  gratuities  that  were  given  them  in 
money.  Cesar  had  four  separate  triumphs  in  one  month. 
The  first  for  his  conquest  of  Gaul ;  the  second  for  his 
victory  in  Egypt ;  a  third  for  the  defeat  of  Pharnaces  ;  and 
the  last  for  the  overthrow  of  the  king  of  Numidia.  At  the 
close  of  his  triumphs,  he  walked  in  procession  at  the  open- 
ing of  magnificent  edifices  he  had  built,  and  in  his  return 
at  night  from  this  ceremony,  attended  by  multitudes  of  the 
people,  was  lighted  by  torches  borne  on  elephants.  At  the 
name  time  he  erected  theatres,  and  exhibited  dramatic  per- 
formances in  different  parts  of  the  city,  introducing  not 
only  gladiators  to  fight  in  single  combat,  but  parties  on  foot 
and  on  horseback  to  engage  in  considerable  numbers  on  op- 
posite sides,  and  to  exhibit  a  species  of  battles. 

From  this  time  forward,  Cesar  took  upon  himself  all  the 
functions  of  government,  and  while  he  suffered  the  forms  of 
a  senate  and  popular  assemblies  to  remain,  availed  himself 
of  their  name  and  authority  without  consulting  with  either, 
affixing  without  scruple  the  superscription  of  particular 
senators  to  the  decrees  or  edicts,  which  he  seat  abroad  into 


416  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

the  provinces.  "  My  name,"  says  Cicero,  s  often  prefixed 
to  public  deeds  which  are  sent  abroad,  as  having  been 
moved  or  drawn  up  by  me,  and  which  come  back  from 
Armenia  or  Syria  as  mine,  -before  1  have  eve/  heard  of 
them  at  Rome.  Do  not  imagine  I  am  in  jest ;  for  I  have 
letters  from  persons,  whose  names  1  never  heard  of  before, 
thanking  me  for  the  honour  I  have  done  them  in  bestowing 
the  title  of  king." 

Equally  absolute  in  the  city  as  in  the  provinces,  Cesar 
placed  whoever  he  thought  proper  on  the  rolls  of  the 
senate ;  and,  in  all  the  elections  he  named  half  the  magis- 
trates, or  in  a  mandate,  addressed  to  the  tribes,  took  upon 
him  to  direct  the  people  whom  they  were  to  choose.  In 
the  exercise  of  so  much  power,  he  became  reserved  and 
difficult  of  access,  familiar  only  with  persons  whom  he  him- 
self  had  raised,  and  who  had  talents  amusing  or  serviceable, 
and  without  any  pretensions  to  alarm  his  jealousy.  Never- 
theless, many  of  his  acts  were  in  themselves,  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  so  able  a  personage,  worthy  of  a  great 
prince,  and  tending  to  reform  abuses,  as  well  a.s  n»  facilitate 
the  summary  proceedings  of  the  despotical  po  w  er  he  had 
assumed. 

Among  the  first  acts  of  Cesar's  reign,  the  law  of  Sylla,  by 
which  the  children  of  the  proscribed  had  been  excluded 
from  holding  any  office  in  the  state,  was  repealed.  The 
judiciary  law,  which  had  undergone  so  many  alterations, 
and  which  in  its  latest  form,  admitted  some  of  the  inferior 
class  of  the  people  on  the  roll  of  the  judges  or  jurymen, 
was  now  reformed,  so  as  to  limit  the  exercise  of  the  judica- 
ture to  the  senators  and  knights.  A  scrutiny  was  made 
into  the  titles  of  those  who  had  been  in  the  practice  to  re- 
ceive corn  at  the  public  granaries,  and  their  numbers  were 
greatly  reduced.  Of  the  corporations  which  had  been 
multiplied  for  factious  purposes,  many  were  abolished,  and 
the  original  companies  of  the  city  alone  were  permitted  to 
remain.  Many  punishments,  for  the  better  restraining  of 
crimes,  were  increased.  To  the  ordinary  punishment  of 
murder,  was  joined  the  confiscation  of  the  whole  estate ;  to 
that  of  some  other  crimes,  the  confiscation  of  one  half. 
The  calendar  was  reformed  upon  the  principles  established 
by  the  Egyptian  astronomers.  To  restore  the  festivals 
to  their  proper  dates  in  the  calendar,  an  intercalation 
of  sixty-seven  days,  or  above  two  months  was  required. 
This  intercalation  was  made  in  the  present  year,  between 
the  months  of  November  and  December,  so  that  the  name 
of  December  was  transferred  from  the  time  of  the  autumnal 
equinox,  to  that,  where  it  still  remains,  of  the  winter  solstice. 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  41 1 

At  the  same  time  he  extended  the  privilege  of  Romans  to 
whole  cities  and  provinces  in  different  parts  of  the  empire, 
and  took  measures  to  prevent  danger  to  the  government, 
such  as  that  into  which  he  had  brought  the  kite  republic, 
limiting  the  duration  of  command  in  the  provinces,  if  with 
the  title  of  propretor  to  one  year,  or  with  that  of  proom-ul 
to  two  years,  he  showed  how  well  he  understood  tho 
nature  of  the  ladder  by  which  he  himself  had  mounted  to 
his  present  elevation,  and  how  much  he  desired  to  withhold 
the  use  of  it  from  any  one  else  who  might  be  dispose,  1  to 
tread  in  his  steps,  or  to  dispute  his  continuance  in  the  height 
he  had  gained. 

While  Cesar,  on  a  supposition  that  he  himself  was  to 
hold  the  reins  of  government,  was  providing  for  the  security 
of  the  power  he  had  established  in  the  capital,  and  on  a 
supposition  that  he  had  no  enemy  left  in  the  field,  or  that 
the  remains  of  the  adverse  party  in  the  provinces  might  be 
extinguished  by  his  officers,  was  betaking  himself  to  civil 
affairs  and  to  popular  arts,  he  had  reports  from  Spain  which 
convinced  him,  that  his  own  presence  might  still  be  neces- 
sary to  repress  a  party,  which  began  to  resume  its  vigour 
under  the  sons  of  Pompey. 

The  two  brothers,  Cneius  and  Sextus,  were  joined 
together,  and  supported  by  the  name  of  their  father,  which 
was  still  in  high  veneration ;  they  had  assembled  thirteen 
legions.  Among  these,  were  two  legions  of  native  Span- 
iards, who  had  deserted  from  Trebonius ;  one  that  was 
raised  from  the  Roman  colonists ;  and  a  fourth  which  had 
arrived  from  Africa,  with  the  elder  of  the  two  brothers. 

Q.  Fabius  Maxim  us  and  Q.  Pedius  or  Didius,  the  officers 
of  Cesar,  being  unable  to  make  head  against  this  force,  re- 
mained on  the  defensive,  and  by  the  reports  which  they 
made  to  their  commander,  represented  the  necessity  of  his 
own  presence  in  the  province.  He  accordingly  ordered 
troops  from  Italy  to  reinforce  those  already  employed  in 
this  service,  and,  in  twenty-seven  days  after  his  departure 
from  Rome,  arrived  at  Saguntum. 

Upon  the  news  of  Cesar's  approach,  Cneius  Pompeiushad 
assembled  all  his  force  on  the  Betis,  posted  his  brother 
Sextus  with  a  proper  garrison  at  Corduba,  and  himself  en- 
deavoured to  reduce  Ulia,  a  town  which  still  held  out 
against  him  in  that  neighbourhood.  Ce-sar'a  first  object, 
upon  his  arrival  in  Spain,  was  to  preserve  this  place  from  fall- 
ing into  the  enemy's  hands.  For  this  purpose,  he  detached 
eleven  cohorts  under  the  command  of  L.  Julius  Paciaecus, 
with  orders,  if  possible,  to  throw  themselves  into  the  town ; 
and  their  object,  thf  ough  the  carelessnett  of  the  enemy,  they 


418  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

accomplished.  While  Cesar  thus  reinforced  the  garrison  of 
Ulia,  he  himself,  to  make  a  diversion  in  their  favour, 
marched  up  to  Corduba,  cut  off  a  party  that  had  been  sent 
from  thence  to  observe  his  motions,  and  threatened  the 
to\vn  with  a  siege.  Sextus,  who  was  in  the  place,  being 
alarmed,  sent  pressing  representations  to  his  brother,  who 
accordingly  abandoned  his  lines  before  Ulia,  and  marched 
to  his  relief.  Both  armies  encamped  on  the  Guadalquivir. 
But  the  two  brothers,  being  m  possession  of  the  principal 
stations,  and  in  condition  to  protract  the  war,  continued  to 
act  on  the  defensive.  Cesar,  on  his  part,  after  long  seeking 
an  opportunity  of  coming  to  action,  and  being  disappointed, 
undertook  the  siege  of  Allegua,  and  on  the  twentieth  of 
February,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  obliged  that  town  to 
surrender.* 

After  a  variety  of  different  movements,  which  gave  rise 
to  frequent  skirmishes,  the  armies  in  the  month  of  March 
came  to  encamp  in  the  plain  of  Munda,  aboat  five  miles 
from  each  other.  Cesar  was  about  to  leave  his  station, 
when  in  the  morning  of  his  intended  departure,  he  had  in- 
telligence, that  the  enemy  had  been  under  arms  from  the 
middle  of  the  preceding  night,  and  were  meditating  some 
attempt  on  Ids  camp.  This  intelligence  was  followed  by 
the  sudden  appearance  of  their  army  on  some  elevated 
grounds  near  the  town  of  Munda ;  but  as  they  showed  no 
disposition  to  come  into  the  plain,  Cesar,  after  some  hesita- 
tion, advanced  to  attack  them. 

In  the  army  of  Pompey,  together  with  the  flower  of  a 
warlike  people,  the  natives  of  Spain,  were  assembled  many 
veterans  of  the  Roman  legions,  inured  to  blood;  many 
Roman  citizens  of  rank,  now  pushed  to  despair,  or  warned, 
by  the  fate  of  their  party  at  Thapsus,  not  to  expect  safetv 
from  the  mercy  of  a  victorious  enemy,  and  not  to  have  a;»y 
hopes,  but  in  their  swords.  Under  these  impressions,  they 
waited  for  Cesar's  approach  with  a  proper  countenance,  and 
on  the  first  onset  repulsed  and  put  to  night  the  troops  by 
whom  they  were  attacked.  In  this  extremity,  Cesar  ran 
into  the  ranks  of  his  own  men ;  said,  they  were  delivering 
him  over  to  boys;  laid  hold  of  a  sword  and  a  shield,  and 
calling  out  that  this  then  should  be  the  last  day  of  his  life, 
and  of  their  services,  took  a  place  in  the  ranks  as  a  mere 
legionary  soldier.  In  this  manner  he  renewed  the  action, 
and  being  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  animating  his  men 
with  the  example  of  his  own  personal  valour,  committed 
his  fortune  and  his  life  to  the  decision  of  a  contest,  in 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  419 

which  his  ability  as  an  officer  could  no  longer  have  any 
share ;  but  while  the  event  was  still  in  suspense,  Bogud,  an 
African,  commanding  a  body  of  horse  in  his  service,  having 
made  an  attempt  to  pierce  into  Pompey's  camp,  drew  La- 
bienus  from  his  post  in  the  field  to  cover  it.  This  accident 
turned  the  fortune  of  the  day.  The  troops,  who  till  then 
valiantly  sustained  Cesar's  attack,  believing  that  Labienus 
deserted  them,  instantly  fled  in  disorder.  The  slaughter 
thenceforward  turned  as  usual  entirely  against  those  who 
fled.  Thirty  thousand  fell  upon  the  field,  and  among  them 
three  thousand  Roman  citizens  of  high  condition,  with  La- 
bienus and  Attius  Varus  at  their  head.  Seventeen  officers 
of  rank  wore  taken,  with  thirteen  Roman  eagles  or  legion- 
ary standards. 

Cesar  had  a  thousand  men  killed,  and  five  hundred 
wounded,  before  the  enemy  gave  way.  Part  of  the  van- 
quished army  retired  into  the  town  of  Munda,  part  into  the 
camp.  Cesar,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  following  day, 
having  left  the  town  of  Munda  blocked  up  or  invested,  set 
out  for  Corduba,  which  Sextus,  the  younger  of  the  two 
brothers,  upon  the  news  of  the  battle,  had  already  aban- 
doned. Cneiu's,  on  seeing  the  rout  of  his  own  army,  fled 
with  a  small  party  of  horse  on  the  road  to  Carteia.  He  was 
pursued  and  overtaken ;  but  continued  to  defend  himself, 
until  he  was  overpowered  and  slain. 

The  Spaniards,  however,  being  mixed  with  the  remains 
of  Roman  armies  which  had  been  broken  and  dispersed  in 
the  field,  still  maintained  every  place  of  defence  against  the 
conqueror ;  and,  within  the  walls  of  cities  to  which  they 
retired,  defended  themselves  to  the  last  extremity. 

Cesar,  having  been  employed  part  of  the  spring  and  the 
following  summer  in  subduing  this  scattered  enemy  made  a 
proper  establishment  for  the  government  of  the  province, 
set  out  for  Italy,  and  arrived  at  Rome  in  October,  Al- 
though it  was  contrary  to  the  practice  of  former  ages  to 
admit  of  triumphs  where  the  vanquished  were  fellow  citi- 
zens, he  took  a  triumph  for  his  late  victory  at  Munda;  but 
instead  of  the  festivity  which  it  was  intended  to  inspire,  it 
was  attended  with  many  signs  of  dejection.  But  none  took 
upon  him  to  censure,  or  was  qualified  to  stem,  the  torrent 
of  servility  by  which  all  orders  of  men  were  carried.  The 
same  succession  of  games  and  entertainments  were  ordered 
as  in  the  former  year,  and  a  thanksgiving  was  appointed 
and  decreed  to  continue  for  fifty  days. 

In  the  concessions  which  were  made  to  Cesar,  whether 
suggested  by  his  friends  or  by  his  enemies,  there  was  no 
attempt  to  preserve  any  appearance  of  the  republic,  or  to 


420  HISTORY  OF  THR  [B.  V. 

leil  the  present  usurpation.  The  senate,  in  presenting 
their  several  decrees,  \vaited  upon  him  in  a  body  as  subjects 
to  acknowledge  their  sovereign  ;  Avnre  received  by  him  on 
his  chair  of  state,  and  in  all  the  form  of  a  royal  ceremony, 
stretching  forth  his  hand  to  each  as  they  approached.  The 
consulate  was  offered  to  him  for  ten  years,  but  he  declined 
it,  as  he  destined  this  and  the  other  offices  of  state  for  the 
gratification  of  his  friends.  He  himself  had  assumed  the 
title  of  consul  in  his  late  triumph,  and  immediately  after 
resigned  it  to  Q.  Fabius  Maximus. 

Now,  however,  in  the  midst  of  appearances,  which 
seemed  to  throw  a  ridicule  on  the  ancient  forms  of  the 
republic,  as  well  as  to  substitute  a  military  government  in 
their  stead,  Cesar  named  himself,  together  with  Mark  An- 
tony, as  consuls  for  the  following  year.  This  compliment 
paid  to  the  civil  establishment,  by  condescending  to  bear 
the  name  of  legal  office,  though  very  illegally  assumed, 
flattered  the  citizens  with  hopes  that  he  meant  to  govern 
under  some  form  of  a  republic.  Nothing,  however,  fol- 
lowed from  these  appearances ;  the  state  Avhich  he  affected 
betrayed  a  mind  which  had  not  sufficient  elevation  to  dis- 
dain the  false  appearances  of  superiority. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  new  year,  Cesar,  with  all  the 
powers  and  ensigns  of  dictator,  took  possession  of  the  con- 
sulate in  conjunction  with  Antony.*  He  himself  passed 
the  winter  in  assiduous  application  to  civil  affairs,  and  in 
forming  projects  to  embellish  the  capital,  and  to  aggrandize 
the  empire.  He  made  some  regulations  for  the  better 
government  of  the  city.  Under  the  ordinary  pretence, 
that  the  laws  were  become  too  voluminous,  he  ordered 
them  to  be  digested  into  a  code,  with  a  view  to  simplify 
and  to  reduce  them  into  a  narrower  compass.  His  mind, 
at  the  same  time,  entertained  projects  of  great  variety  and 
extent.  To  drain  the  great  marshes  which  rendered  the 
air  so  unhealthy,  and  so  much  land  unserviceable  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Rrtme ;  to  cut  across  the  isthmus  of  Cor- 
inth, to  erect  moles,  and  form  harbours  on  the  coast  of 
Italy ;  to  make  highways  across  the  Apennines ;  to  build  a 
new  theatre  that  should  exceed  that  of  Pompey ;  to  erect 
public  libraries,  and  make  a  navigable  canal  from  the  Anio 
and  the  Tiber  to  the  sea  at  Terracina ;  and  to  build  a  mag- 
nificent temple  to  Mars. 

The  measure  which  of  all  others  contributed  most  to  the 
honour  of  Cesar,  did  we  suppose  him  entitled  to  the  powers 
he  assumed,  was  the  general  indemnity  which  he  granted  ^o 


Cif.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  42! 

all  who  had  opposed  him.  Some  he  even  employed  in  the 
administration  of  government,  and  promoted  in  the  state. 
He  placed  Cains  Cassius  and  Marcus  Brutus,  for  this  year, 
on  the  list  of  pretors,  and  entrusted  them  with  the  higher 
Jurisdiction  of  the  city.  To  the  widows  of  many  who  died 
in  opposition  to  himself,  he  restored  their  portions,  and 
gave  their  children  part  of  their  patrimony.  He  likewise 
replaced  the  statues  of  Syllaand  of  Pompey,  which  the  pop- 
ulace, in  flattery  to  himself,  had  thrown  down.  He  affect- 
ed great  clemency,  and  appeared  desirous  of  contrasting  his 
own  conduct  with  that  of  Sylla.  He  also  used  to  ridicule  the 
resignation  of  Sylla  as  an  act  of  imbecility,  and  was  so 
unguarded  in  his  expressions  as  to  say,  That  the  republic 
was  but  a  name,  that  his  words  should  be  carefully  observed, 
for  that  he  meant  every  word  should  have  the  force  of  a  law. 

To  so  much  arrogance  and  affectation  of  kingly  *tate, 
joined  to  absolute  power,  nothing  was  wanting  but  the  title 
of  king.  This  Cesar  himself  evidently  appeared  to  have 
the  vanity  to  desire.  His  retainers  and  flatterers,  on  dif- 
ferent occasions,  endeavoured  to  surprise  the  people  into  a 
concession  of  it ;  but  notwithstanding  the  powers  of  sover- 
eignty, which  he  exercised  without  control,  and  the  honours 
of  divinity,  which  were  decreed  to  him  by  general  consent, 
his  influence  was  not  sufficient  to  reconcile  the  Roman 
people  to  the  name  of  king.  At  the  Lupercalia  (a  festival, 
which  being  continued  down  from  barbarous  ages,  served 
as  a  monument  of  primeval  simplicity  and  rudeness)  a 
piece  of  flattery,  in  making  tender  of  a  crown,  was  practised 
by  Antony,  then  in  the  office  of  consul,  and  the  chief  confi- 
dant of  Cesar.  In  the  ceremony  now  performed,  Mark 
\ntonybore  his  part  as  consul ;  and  Cesar.sat  on  his  gilded 
chair  of  state  in  his  triumphal  robes  to  behold  the  spectacle. 
Antony  stepped  before  him,  anil  presented  him  witharoyal 
crown,  saying,  "  This  crown  the  Roman  people  confer 
upon  Cesar  by  my  hands."  A  few  of  the  spectators  seemed 
to  applaud ;  but  Cesar,  perceiving  that  the  people  in  general, 
by  their  silence,  gave  signs  of  displeasure,  pushed  away  the 
crown  with  his  hand;  and  upon  thn  action  received  from 
the  people,  by  an  universal  shout  of  applause,  an  unques- 
tionable explanation  of  their  former  silence. 

To  try  the  effect  of  a  moderation  which  was  so  much 
applauded,  Antony  threw  himself  upon  the  ground  at 
Cesar's  feet,  repeated  his  offer  of  the  crown,  and  hoped 
that  the  people  would  join  him  in  pressing  the  acceptance 
of  what  was  so  modestly  refused  ;  but  with  no  better  suc- 
cess than  in  the  former  attempt.  That  the  merit  of  this 
refusal,  however,  might  no*  bo  forgotten,  or  that  the  offer 
L  L 


422  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V» 

miglkt  be  held  equal  to  the  actual  investiture  of  the  crown 
an  entry  was  made  of  it  in  the  Fasti  or  public  records. 

The  Roman  Republic  had,  for  some  time,  subsisted  in  a 
very  disorderly  state.  All  who  wished  to  preserve  the 
republic,  endeavoured  to  extend  the  prerogatives  of  the 
senate,  and  to  prevent,  as  much  as  possible,  these  ill-formed 
assemblies  of  the  people  from  deliberating  on  matters  of 
state ;  and  it  might,  no  doubt,  have  been  still  better  for  the 
empire,  if  the  spirit  of  legal  monarchy  could  at  once  have 
been  infused  into  every  part  of  the  commonwealth  ;  or  if, 
without  further  pangs  or  convulsions,  the  authority  of  a 
prince,  tempered  with  that  of  a  senate,  had  been  firmly 
established.  But  men  do  not  at  once  change  their  habits 
and  opinions,  nor  yield  their  own  pretensions  upon  specula- 
tive notions  of  what  is  suited  to  the  state  of  their  country. 
Ever  since  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin,  the  name  of  king  had 
been  odious  at  Rome.  The  most  popular  citizens,  as  soon 
as  they  became  suspected  of  aspiring-  to  kingly  power, 
oecame  objects  of  aversion,  and  were  marked  out  as  a  prey 
co  the  detestation  of  their  country.  Thus  fell  Manlius 
Capitolinus,  the  Gracchi,  Apuleius,  and  others  who  were 
loaded  with  this  imputation. 

The  Romans,  accustomed  to  see  vanquished  kings  the 
sport  of  popular  insolence,  led  in  triumph,  put  to  death  ; 
or,  if  suffered  to  live,  made  to  languish  in  poverty  and 
neglect— accustomed  to  see  kings,  who  were  their  own 
allies,  submitting  their  cause  to  the  judgment  of  the  Roman 
people,  or  suing  for  favour,  considered  monarchy  itself  as 
an  appurtenance  of  serv>'  ,ey  and  barbarism  ;  and  the  pro- 
ject tb  give  a  king  to  thj  Romans  as  an  attempt  to  degrade 
them  into  barbarians  and  slaves. 

Cesar,  having  attempted  to  join  the  title  of  king  with  the 
powers  of  perpetual  dictator,  had  reason  to  distrust  a 
people  who  were  actuated  by  such  conceptions.  He  \\  as 
an  object  of  private  as  well  as  of  public  resentment,  having 
usurped  the  government  over  those  whom  he  had  cruelly 
injured ;  over  the  fathers,  the  brothers,  and  sons  of  those 
who  had  fallen  by  his  sword.  He  accordingly,  for  some 
time,  had  the  precaution  to  keep  a  military  guard  attending 
his  person  ;  but,  grown  familiar  with  those  he  had  offended, 
and  secure  in  personal  courage,  he  dropped  this  precaution, 
and  began  to  reign  with  the  confidence  of  a  lawful  mon- 
arch. Misled,  perhaps,  by  existing  appearances,  he  con- 
ceived too  mean  an  opinion  of  those  who  composed  the 
commonwealth,  greatly  sunk  indeed  in  their  political  char- 
acters, but  n'ot  fallen  into  that  state  of  personal  weakness, 
which  his  security  and  contempt  of  them  seemed  to  imply. 


CB.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  423 

Above  sixty  citi/ens  of  noble  extraction  were  found, 
who  thought  their  late  condition  as  members  of  the  republic 
could  still  be  recovered.  Some  had  been  stunned  with 
their  fall,  but  not  quite  overwhelmed  ;  others,  who,  on 
specious  pretences,  had  assisted  in  obtaining  the  victories 
of  Cesar,  detested  the  monarchy  which  he  was  pleased  to 
assume.  In  the  first  period  of  the  civil  war  many  imagine. i, 
that  the  contest  was  to  end  in  substituting  one  party  for 
another,  not  in  the  entire  subversion  of  the  republican 
government ;  and  they  were  inclined,  as  soon  as  fortune 
should  declare  in  favour  of  either  party,  to  be  reconcile 
with  those  that  prevailed.  But  when  it  evidently  appeared 
that  Cesar,  by  suppressing  the  last  remains  of  oppositio. 
to  himself  in  every  part  of  the  empire,  meant  to  establish 
a  monarchy  in  his  own  person,  a  secret  indignation  filled 
the  breasts  of  those  who,  upon  a  foot  of  family  consequence, 
or  personal  ability,  had  any  pretensions  to  political  impor- 
tance. To  such  persons  the  dominion  of  an  equal  appeared 
insufferable. 

Many  of  Cesar's  officers,  and  the  nearest  to  his  person, 
were  as  much  in  this  mind  as  any  other  citizens ;  and  on 
this  supposition,  so  familiar  was  the  thought  of  proceeding 
to  the  last  extremities  against  him,  that,  when  Antony 
came  to  meet  Cesar,  on  his  return  from  Spain,  Trebonius 
ventured  to  sound  his  inclinations  respecting  a  design  on 
Cesar's  life.  It  is  well  known,  that  a  conspiracy  accor- 
dingly was,  at  this  time,  formed  against  the  life  of  Cesar, 
although  the  first  steps  and  the  consultations  of  the  parties 
are  nowhere  minutely  recorded.  The  principal  authors 
of  it  were  Caius  Cassius  and  Marcus  Brutus,  then  pretore 
in  the  city;  Decimus  Brutus  and  Trebonius,  who  had 
both  served  in  high  rank  under  Cesar  himself,  and  of 
.vhom  the  first  was  destined  by  him  to  the  command  in 
CUalpine  Gaul,  and  to  the  consulate  in  the  following  year. 
Caius  Cassius  was  early  noted  for  a  high  and  impetuous 
spirit.  He  had  distinguished  himself  in  Syria,  by  collet-tin" 
the  remains  of  the  unfortunate  army  of  Crassus,  with  which 
he  repelled  the  attempt  of  the  Farthians  on  that  province. 
He  followed  Foinpey  in  the  civil  war,  and  commanded  a 
squadron  of  the  licet  on  the  coast  of  Sicily  at  the  time  of 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia. 

Marcus  Brutus  was  the  nephew  of  Cato  by  his  sister 
Servilia;  and  so  much  the  favourite  of  Cesar,  who  was 
v.iid  to  have  had  an  intrigue  with  his  mother,  that  he  was 
by  some  supposed  to  be  his  son.  Being  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  was  not  only  protected  by  the 
victor,  but  sent  into  the  province  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  with 


424  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

the  title  of  governor;  where,  during  the  war  in  Africa 
against  Scipio  and  the  king  of  Numidia,  he  remained,  per- 
haps, rather  under  safe  custody  than  in  high  confidence 
with  Cesar. 

Cassius  is  reputed  to  have  been  the  prime  mover  in  the 
design  against  Cesar's  life ;  and  to  have  been  the  author  of 
anonymous  calls  to  vindicate  the  freedom  of  Koine,  which 
\vfre  posted  up  or  dropped  in  public  places ;  and  which, 
from  the  prevailing  spirit  of  discontent,  found  a  ready  ac- 
ceptance. As  many  were  concerned,  and  as  they  remained 
Borne  time  in  suspense  as  to  the  proper  time  and  place  for 
the  execution  of  their  purpose,  it  is  singular  that  the  con- 
spiracy should  have  come  to  such  a  height  undiscovered. 
But  Cesar  did  not  encourage  informers  ;  his  great  courage 
preserved  him  from  the  jealousies  by  which  others  in  less 


supposed  many  to  have  in  the  preservation  of  his  life. 

The  thoughts  of  the  usurper  had  become  vacant  and 
languid  in  the  possession  of  a  station  to  which  he  had  strug- 
gled through  so  much  blood  ;  and  his  active  mind  still 
urged  him  to  extensive  projects  of  war  and  conquest.  He 
accordingly  planned  a  series  of  wars  which  were  not  likely 
to  end  but  with  his  life.  He  was  to  begin  with  revenging 
the  death  of  Crassus,  and  reducing  the  Parthians.  He  was 
next  to  pass  by  Hyrcania  and  the  coasts  of  the  Caspian  Sea 
into  Scythia;  from  thence,  by  the  shores  of  the  Euxine 
Sea,  into  Sarmatia,  Dacia,  and  Germany  ;  and  from  thence, 
by  his  own  late  conquests  in  Gaul,  to  return  into  Italy ; 
for  this  purpose  he  had  already  sent  forward  into  Macedonia 
seventeen  legions  and  ten  thousand  horse. 

The  prospect  of  Cesar's  approaching  departure  from 
Rome,  which  was  fixed  for  the  month  of  March,  urged  the 
speedy  execution  of  their  purpose.  The  report  of  a  re- 
sponse or  prediction,  which  some  of  the  flatterers  of  Cesar 
had  procured  from  the  college  of  augurs,  bearing  that  the 
Parthians  were  not  to  be  subdued  but  by  a  king,  appeared 
to  be  the  prelude  of  a  motion  to  vest  him,  in  his  intended 
expedition  against  the  Parthians,  with  the  title,  and  with 
the  ensigns  of  royalty,  to  be  borne,  if  not  in  the  city,  at 
least  in  the  provinces. 

A  meeting  of  the  senate  in  Pompey's  theatre  being  sum- 
ened  for  the  Ides,  or  fifteenth  of  March,  the  proposal  to 
bestow  on  Cesar  the  title  of  king,  as  a  qualification  en- 
joined by  the  Sybils  to  make  war  on  the  Parthians,  was  to  be 
the  principal  business  of  the  assembly.  This  circumstaiuo 


CH.  LT  KUMAN  REPUBLIC.  425 

determined  the  conspirators  in  the  choice  of  a  place  for  the 
execution  of  thoir  design.  It  was  at  first  proposed  that 
Antony,  being  likely  to  carry  on  the  same  military  usurpa- 
tions which  CYsur  had  begun,  should  be  taken  oft'  at  the 
same  time ;  but  this  was  overruled.  "  If  we  do  anything 
more  than  is  necessary  to  set  the  Romans  at  liberty,"  said 
Marcus  Brutus,  "  we  shall  be  thought  to  act  from  private 
resentment,  and  to  intend  restoring  the  party  of  Pompey, 
not  the  republic." 

The  morning  of  the  Ides  of  March,  the  day  on  which  this 
conspiracy  was  to  be  executed,  arrived,  and  there  was  yet 
no  suspicion.  Cesar,  at  the  persuasion  of  Decimus  Brutus, 
though  once  determined  to  remain  at  home,  had  changed 
his  mind,  and  was  already  in  the  streets,  being  carried  to 
the  senate  in  his  litter.  Some  person,  probably,  had  ob- 
served circumstances  which  led  to  a  discovery  of  the  plot, 
and  the  usurper  had  a  Lillet  to  this  effect  given  to  him  as 
he  passed  in  the  streets ;  he  was  intreated  by  the  person 
who  gave  it  fiistantly  to  read  it ;  and  he  endeavoured  to  do 
eo,  but  Avas  prevented  by  the  multitudes  who  crowded 
around  him  with  numberless  applications  ;  and  he  still 
carried  this  paper  in  his  hand  when  he  entered  the  senate. 

Cesar's  chair  of  state  had  been  placed  near  to  the  pedestal 
of  Pompey's  statue.  Numbers  of  the  conspirators  had 
seated  themselves  around  it.  Trebonius,  under  pretence 
of  business,  had  taken  Antony  aside  at  the  entrance  of  the 
theatre.  Cimber,  who,  with  others  of  the  conspirators, 
met  Cesar  in  the  portico,  presented  him  with  a  petition  in 
favour  of  his  brother,  who  had  been  excepted  from  the 
late  indemnity ;  and  in  urging  the  prayer  of  this  petition, 
attended  the  usurper  to  his  place.  Having  there  received 
a  denial  from  Cesar,  littered  with  some  expressions  of  im- 
patience at  being  so  much  importuned,  he  took  hold  of  hi* 
robe,  as  if  to  press  the  intreaty.  Ntty,  said  Cesar,  this  it 
violence.  While  he  spoke  these  words,  Cimber  flung  back 
the  gown  from  his  shoulders ;  and  this  being  the  signal 
agreed  upon,  called  out  to  strike.  Casca  aimed  the  first 
blow.  Cesar  started  from  his  place,  and  in  the  first  moment 
of  surprise,  pushed  Cimber  with  one  arm,  and  laid  hold  of 
Casca  with  the  other.  But  ha  soon  perceived  that  resis. 
tance  was  vain ;  and  while  the  swords  of  the  conspirators 
clashed  with  each  other,  in  their  way  to  his  body,  he  wrap- 
pod  himself  up  in  his  gown,  and  fell  without  any  farther 
struggle.  It  was  observed,  in  the  superstition  of  the  times, 
that  in  falling,  the  blood  which  sprang  from  his  wounds 
sprinkled  the  pedestal  of  Pompey's  statue  And  thus  hav- 
Injf  employed  the  greatest  abilities  to  subdue  his  fellow 
N  N2 


426  HISTORY  OF  THE  |.B.  V. 

citizens,  with  whom  it  would  have  been  a  much  greater 
honour  to  have  been  able  to  live  on  terms  of  equality,  he  fell, 
in  the  height  of  his  security,  a  sacrifice  to  their  just  indigna- 
tion ;  a  striking  example  of  what  the  arrogant  have  to  fear 
in  trifling  with  the  feelings  of  a  free  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  lesson  of  jealousy  and  of  cruelty  to  tyrants,  or  an 
admonition  not  to  spare,  in  the  exercise  of  their  power, 
those  whom  they  may  have  insulted  by  usurping  it. 

When  the  body  lay  breathless  on  the  ground,  Cassius 
called  out,  that  there  lay  the  worst  of  men.  Brutus  called 
upon  the  senate  to  judge  of  the  transaction  which  had 
passed  before  them,  and  was  proceeding  to  state  the  motives 
of  those  who  were  concerned  in  it,  when  the  members,  who 
had  for  a  moment  stood  in  silent  amazement,  rose  on  a  sud- 
den, and  no  man  had  presence  of  miud  to  give  any  account 
of  what  had  happened,  but  repeated  the  cry  that  was  usua. 
on  great  alarms  for  all  persons  to  withdraw,  and  to  shut  up 
their  habitations  and  shops.  This  cry  was  communicated 
from  one  to  another  in  the  streets.  The  peoplp,  imagining- 
tkat  a  general  massacre  was  somewhere  begun,  shut  up, 
and  barred  all  their  doors  as  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  everj 
one  prepared  to  defend  his  own  habitation. 

Antony,  upon  the  first  alarm,  had  changed  his  dress,  and 
retired  to  a  place  of  safety.  He  believed  that  the  conspira 
tors  must  have  intended  to  take  his  life,  together  with  that 
of  Cesar :  and  he  fled  in  the  apprehension  of  being  instantly 
pursued.  Lepidus  repaired  to  the  suburbs,  where  the  legion 
he  commanded  was  quartered;  and  uncertain  whether 
Cesar's  death  was  the  act  of  the  whole  senate,  or  of  a  pri- 
vate party,  waited  for  an  explanation,  or  an  order  from  th? 
surviving  consul,  to  determine  in  what  manner  he  should 
act.  In  these  circumstances  a  general  pause,  and  an  in- 
terval of  suspense  and  sileaco,  took  place  over  the  whole 
eity. 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  427 


CHAP.  II. 

Consternation  on  tlie  Death  of  Cetar  -  Tumultuary  Assembly  <*} 
the  People  Declaration!  of  Cinna  and  Dolabella  -  Appearance  oj 
Brutut  and  Catriut  in  the  Forum -Their  return  to  the  Capitol  - 
Meeting  and  debate  in  the  Senate  -Act  of  Oblivion  -Speech  of  lint  tut 
to  the  People  -Funeral  of  Cetar  Inturrection  of  the  People— Policy 
of  Antony— Appearance  of  Ottavius-His  difference  with  Antony  - 
Both  have  recourse  to  Arms— Aspect  of  Thingt— Antony  proceeds  to 
expel  Decimus  Brutus  from  the  Cifflpine  Gaul. 

IN  the  general  consternation,  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
Cesa?,  the  authors  of  this  important  event  appeared  to  lu« 
no  less  at  a  loss  what  to  do,  than  the  other  members  of  tin- 
senate,  on  whom  it  was  brought  by  surprise.  The  danger 
of  executing  the  first  part  of  their  design  had  appeared  so 
great,  that  they  looked  no  farther,  or  they  imagined  that 
with  Cesar's  life  every  difficulty  would  be  ended ;  and  that 
the  senate  and  people,  restored  to  their  authority  and  pri- 
vileges, would  naturally  recur  to  their  usual  forms.  Find- 
ing themselves  deserted  in  the  senate,  the  conspirators  thus 
in  a  body,  with  their  swords  yet  stained  with  blood,  went 
forth  to  the  streets  proclaiming  security  and  liberty,  and 
inviting  every  one  to  concur  with  them  in  restoring  the 
commonwealth.  They  were  joined  by  many  who,  though 
not  accessary  to  the  conspiracy,  chose  to  embark  with 
them  in  the  present  state  of  their  fortunes.  But  observing 
that  the  people  in  general  did  not  show  any  hearty  approba- 
tion of  their  cause ;  and  knowing  that,  besides  tho  legion 
which  Lepidus  commanded  in  the  suburbs,  there  were  in 
the  city  multitudes  of  veterans,  who  having  received  grunts 
of  land  from  Cesar,  had  not  yet  gone  to  take  possession  of 
them,  they  determined  to  take  refuge  in  the  capitol,  and 
with  the  gladiators  of  Decimus  Brutus,  who  had  already 
taken  possession  of  that  fortress,  to  wait  the  issue  of  this 
general  scene  of  suspense. 

Multitudes  of  the  people,  observing  that  the  persons  who 
had  occasioned  this  general  alarm  were  themselves  on  the 
defensive,  ventured  forth  into  the  streets,  and  many 
crowded  together  in  the  forum  or  ordinary  place  of  resort. 
The  first  person  that  took  any  public  part  upon  this  occa- 
sion was  Cinna,  the  son  of  him  who  had  been  a  leader  of  the 
Marian  party,  brother-in-law  of  Cesar.  This  relation  of 
the  deceased,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  tore  the  pretor's 
gown  from  his  own  shoulders ;  declared  that  in  this  act  he 
then  abdicated  his  oflu-e,  as  having  been  unwarrantably  ob- 


428  HISTORY  OF  THE  [U.  V. 

tained  by  the  nomination  of  an  usurper ;  and  he  proceeded 
to  make  a  harangue  to  the  people,  in  which  he  represented 
Cesar  as  a  tyrant,  extolled  the  conspirators  as  the  restorers 
of  liberty  to  their  country,  and  proposed  that  they  should 
have  the  proper  safeguards  to  their  persons,  and  be  invited 
to  assist  in  the  assembly  of  the  people 

Dolabella,  who  had  been  nominated  by  Cesar  to  succeed 
in  the  office  of  consul,  which  he  himself  was  about  to 
vacate,  but  joined  with  the  abdicated  pretor  in  applauding 
the  authors  of  Cesar's  death,  expressed  his  wish  that  he 
himself  had  been  a  partner  in  the  glory  of  their  action, 
joined  with  Cinna,  in  proposing  that  these  restorers  of 
liberty  should  be  invited  to  the  assembly  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  anniversary  of  the  present  day  should  be  observed 
for  ever,  as  a  festival  sacred  to  the  restoration  of  the  eoin- 
rnomvealth. 

The  partisans  of  Cesar,  yet  unacquainted  with  the  extent 
of  their  own  danger,  had  absented  themselves,  and  t<.e  a->- 
sembly  consisted  chiefly  of  persons  to  whom  these  proposals 
were  agreeable.  The  motions  that  were  now  made  by  the 
late  pretor  and  the  supposed  consul  accordingly  prevailed, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  were  invited  to  descend 
from  the  capitol.  But  of  this  invitation  only  Marcus 
Brutus  and  Cassius  took  the  benefit.  Having  joined  the 
assembly,  they  severally  addressed  themselves  to  the  multi- 
tude with  an  air  of  dignity  and  consciousness  of  merit,  as 
being  the  procurers  of  that  liberty  which  the  people  were 
now  to  enjoy,  and  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  judge  for 
themselves.  They  contrasted  the  late  usurpation  of  Cesar 
with  the  free  constitution  of  the  republic ;  observed,  that 
with  respect  to  themselves,  unsupported  as  they  were  by 
any  military  force,  they  could  have  no  intention  to  sup- 
plant the  usurper  in  the  possession  of  his  power,  and  could 
have  no  object  besides  the  restoration  of  the  laws  and  tht 
freedom  of  their  country.  And  they  exhorted  the  audience, 
in  terms  rather  popular,  than  really  applicable  to  the  pre- 
sent state  of  affairs,  to  make  the  same  use  of  their  deliver 
nnce  from  an  usurped  and  violent  domination  which  their 
ancestors,  at  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin,  had  made  of  a  simi- 
lar event. 

In  these  fond  anticipations  of  freedom,  the  authors  of  this 
attempt  to  restore  the  republic,  enjoyed  for  rfnce  the  fruite 
of  their  labour,  and  spoke  to  a  numerous  assembly  of  the 
Roman  people,  seemingly  unrestrained  and  unawedby  mili- 
tary force.  The  city,  however,  had  not  yet  recovered  from 
the  consternation  with  which  the  people  was  seized ;  the 
present  assembly  was  not  sufficiently  attended  by  persons, 


CH.  11. J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  429 

on  whom  the  conspirators  could  rely  for  their  safety,  it  \ras 
thought  most  prudent,  therefore,  that  Brutus  and  Cassiut 
should  return  to  their  friends  in  the  capitol,  and  that  from 
this  place  they  should  treat  of  an  accommodation  with 
Antony,  and  with  the  other  leaders  of  the  opposite  party. 

On  the  following  day,  Antony,  seeing  that  the  restorers 
of  the  commonwealth  remained  in  the  capitol,  and  abstained 
from  violence  against  any  of  the  supposed  friends  or  adher- 
ents of  Cesar,  ventured  abroad  from  his  lurking  place,  and 
resumed  the  dress  and  ensigns  of  consul.  In  this  capacity 
he  received  a  message  from  the  conspirators,  desiring  a 
conference  with  himself  and  with  Lepidus.  Antony, 
though,  in  times  of  relaxation  and  security,  extravagant, 
dissipated,  and  in  appearance  incapable  of  serious  ali'airs ; 
yet  in  arduous  situations  he  generally  belied  these  appear- 
ances, was  strenuous,  cautious,  and  able.  He  did  not  yet 
perceive  how  far  the  party  of  Cesar  was  or  was  not  extin- 
guished with  its  leader.  The  only  military  force  in  Italy 
was  at  the  di3pos;il  of  Lepidus,  of  whom  he  was  jealous. 
In  his  answer,  therefore,  he  assumed  an  appearance  of  mo- 
deration and  regard  for  the  commonwealth,  and  referred 
every  question  to  the  senate,  which  he  had  already  sum- 
moiied  to  assemble. 

In  expectation  of  this  meeting  of  the  senate,  all  parties 
were  busy  in  consultations,  and  in  soliciting  support  to  their 
interest.  Lepidus  marched  into  the  city  with  the  legion  ha 
commanded,  and  took  possession  of  the  forum.  To  the 
people  who  assembled  around  him  he  lamented  the  death  of 
Cesar,  and  inveighed  against  the  authors  of  this  unexpected 
event.  By  this  declaration,  he  encouraged  the  partisans 
and  retainers  of  the  late  dictator  to  come  abroad,  and  ren- 
dered the  streets  and  passages  exceedingly  dangerous  for 
those  who  were  supposed  to  be  of  the  opposite  party.  On 
the  following  day,  being  the  eighteenth  day  of  March, 
the  senate  assembled,  as  soon  as  it  was  light,  in  the  temple 
of  the  Earth.  The  veterans  beset  the  doors.  Dolabella 
presented  himself,  ushered  in  by  the  lictors,  and  took  pos- 
session of  one  of  the  consuls'  chairs.  Antony  being  seated 
in  the  other,  moved  the  assembly  to  take  into  consideration 
the  present  state  of  the  commonwealth.  He  himself  pro- 
fessed great  zeal  for  the  republic,  and  a  disposition  to  peace. 
The  greater  part  of  those  who  spoke  after  Antony  justified 
or  extolled  the  act  of  the  conspirators,  and  m  ived  that  they 
should  have  public  thanks  and  rewaidsfor  their  services. 
This  they  supported  by  a  charge  of  usurpation  and  tyranny 
ngainst  Cesar.  Up»n  this  point,  however,  Antony  thought 
proper  to  interpose;  reminded  the  venatora  how 
MM 


430  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

many  of  them  n  ore  concerned  in  this  question.  "They 
who  are  to  vote  in  it,"  he  said,  "  will  please  to  observe,  that 
if  Cesar  shall  be  found  to  have  acted  with  legal  powers, 
his  acts  will  remain  in  force;  if  otherwise,  all  the  proceed- 
ings that  took  j  lace  during  his  administration  must  be 
erazed  from  your  records;  and  his  body,  as  that  of  a  traitor 
and  a  tyrant,  inadt*  fast  on  ahook,  must  be  dragged  through 
the  streets,  and  cast  into  the  Tiber.  This  sentence  would 
affect  the  remot<Mt  parts  of  the  empire,  or  would  extend, 
in  its  application,  farther  perhaps  than  we  should  be  able 
to  enforce  it  by  our  arms.  Part  indeed  is  in  our  power. 
Many  of  us  hold  offices,  or  are  destined  by  Cesar's  nomina- 
tion to  offices,  either  at  home  or  abroad.  Let  us  begin  with 
divesting  ourselves  of  what  we  no\v  hold ;  and  with 
renouncing  our  expectations  for  the  future.  After  we 
have  given  this  proof  of  our  disinterestedness,  our  allies 
abroad  will  listen  to  us,  when  we  speak  of  recalling'  the 
favours  granted  to  them  by  the  late  dictator." 

By  this  artful  turn,  which  was  given  by  Antony  to  the 
subject  now  under  deliberation,  many,  who  in  the  late  ar- 
rangements made  by  Cesar,  held  places  in  the  senate  or 
magistracy,  or  who  were  by  his  appointment  destined  to 
succeed  to  high  orlices  at  home  or  abroad,  were  greatly  dis- 
concerted. Some  of  those  who  were  actually  in  office,  as 
retainers  of  the  Lite  usurpation,  resigned  their  powers,  and 
laid  down  the  ensigns  of  magistracy  on  the  steps  where 
they  sat ;  but  Dolabella,  who,  in  consequence  of  a  destina- 
tion made,  though  not  fulfilled  by  Cesar,  had  recently  assumed 
the  consular  robes,  pleaded  for  the  necessity  of  sustaining 
all  the  acts  and  decrees  of  that  usurper. 

After  some  opposite  opinions  on  the  question  had  been 
delivered,  Antony  concluded  the  debate  by  corroborating 
his  former  arguments  with  a  tone  of  more  authority  than 
he  had  hitherto  assumed. 

As  the  issue  of  the  deliberation,  a  decree  was  passed,  by 
which  all  prosecutions,  on  account  of  Cesar's  death,  were 
prohibited ;  all  his  acts,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  were  con- 
firmed ;  all  his  plans  ordered  to  be  carried  into  execution ; 
and  all  the  grants  of  land,  which  had  been  made  by  him  to 
the  veterans,  specially  ratified. 

This  decree  being  to  be  carried  to  the  people  for  their 
assent  on  the  following  day,  and  the  accommodation  of 
parties  being  so  far  advanced,  the  conspirators  intimated  an 
inclination  to  a  Idress  themselves  to  the  people  ;  and  were 
instantly  attended  by  great  numbers,  who  assembled  to  he:u 
them  on  the  ascent  of  the  capitol.  Brutus  spoke  from  the 
eteps.  He  enumerated  the  distresses  which  had  afflicted  the 


CH.    II.}  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  431 

commonwealth,  from  the  time  at  which  Cesar  commenced 
hostilities  to  the  present  hour :  "  A  period,  during  which 
the  beat  blood  of  the  republic,"  he  said,  "  was  continually 
shedding,  in  Spain,  in  Macedonia,  and  in  Africa,  to  gratify 
the  ambition  or  vanity  of  asingleman.  These  things,  how- 
ever," continued  he,  "  we  consented  to  overlook,  and  in 
suffering  Cesar  to  hold  the  higher  offices  of  state,  became 
bound,  by  our  oath  of  fidelity,  not  to  call  any  of  his  past  ac- 
tions in  question.  If  we  had  likewise  sworn  to  submit  our- 
selves to  perpetual  servitude,  our  enemies  might  have  some 
colour  for  the  accusation  of  perjury,  which  we  are  told  is 
now  laid  to  our  charge  ;  but  the  proposal  of  any  such  en- 
gagement we  should  have  rejected  with  indignation,  and  we 
trust  that  every  Roman  citizen  would  have  done  so  also. 
Sylla,  after  having  gratified  his  revenge  against  many  who 
were  no  doubt  his  own  enemies,  at  the  same  time  that 
they  were  enemies  of  the  public,  at  last  restored  the  com- 
monwealth ;  but  Cesar,  without  any  pretence,  besides  the 
gratification  of  his  own  ambition,  continued,  in  the  city  and 
in  the  provinces,  to  usurp  all  the  powers  of  the  empire. 
The  treasury  he  treated  as  his  property,  and  the  magistrates 
of  Rome  as  his  creatures,  to  be  placed  or  displaced  at  his 
pleasure.  One  of  the  last  acts  of  his  life,  in  preparing  for 
his  departure  from  Rome,  was  to  fix  the  succession  of 
magistrates  for  several  years  ;  in  order  that  in  his  absence 
you  might  not,  by  choosing  your  own  officers,  recover  the 
habit  of  exercising  that  freedom,  and  of  enjoying  those 
rights,  of  which  he  meant  to  deprive  you  for  ever." 

From  tins  account  of  Cesar's  usurpation,  Brutus  proceeded 
to  speak  of  the  grants  which  had  been  made  to  the  veterans. 
"  He  acknowledged  the  long  and  faithful  services  which  those 
men  had  performed  against  the  enemies  of  the  common- 
wealth in  Gaul,  in  Germany,  and  in  Britain  ;  approved  of 
the  provision  which  had  been  made  for  them,  and  assured 
them  of  his  concurrence  in  carrying  this  provision  into  full 
execution.  At  the  same  time  he  lamented  the  sufferings  of 
those  who  had  been  stripped  of  their  ancient  possession*,  to 
make  way  for  those  new  grants  ;  proposed  that  they  should 
have  a  compensation  from  the  treasury,  and  hoped  that  the 
justice  of  the  commonwealth  would  be  employed  in  equally 
protecting  the  rights  of  every  citizen." 

This  speech  was  received  with  applause  ;  and  on  the 
following  day  the  act  of  oblivion  being  confirmed  by  the 
people,  and  the  children  of  Antony  having  been  sent  as 
hostages  to  the  cupitol,  the  conspirators  came  down  from 
thence,  and  were  received  with  lo;id  acrhunations.  After 
parties  had  saluted  each  other  with  mutual  congratulations 


432  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

and  expressions  of  friendship,  Cassius  retired  to  sup  with 
Antony,  and  Brutus  with  Lepidus.  The  republic  appeared 
to  be  thoroughly  re-established.  The  nobles  in  general,  and 
many  of  the  people,  expressed  their  satisfaction  in  the  pre- 
sent situation  of  affairs,  and  extolled  the  authors  of  Cesar's 
death  as  the  restorers  of  freedom  to  their  country. 

The  senate  however  had  weakly,  under  the  show  of  mo- 
deration, resolved  to  confirm  Cesar's  will,  and  to  ratify  all 
his  acts,  both  public  and  private  ;  they  had  decreed  that  the 
remains  of  Cesar  should  be  honoured  with  a  public  funeral, 
which  was  to  be  conducted  in  the  manner  which  his  friends 
should  think  proper.  Antony  was  prepared  to  take  advan- 
tage of  these  circumstances,  towards  preserving  the  party  of 
Cesar  both  in  the  army  and  in  the  city,  not  doubting  that, 
while  this  party  remained,  he  himself  should  remain  at  its 
head.  For  this  purpose,  he  published  Cesar's  will,  in  which 
he  knew  that  there  were  many  clauses  likely  to  gratify  the 
people,  and  to  inflame  their  minds  against  his  assassins. 
Antony,  in  this  manner  having  secured  the  public  attention 
and  favour,  proceeded  to  celebrate  the  funeral  with  all  the 
honours  that  were  due  to  a  public  benefactor,  and  to  a  com  - 
mon  parent  of  the  people. 

Cesar's  body,  in  the  general  consternation,  had  been  left 
for  some  hours  on  the  spot  where  it  fell.  It  was  at  last 
borne  on  a  litter  by  a  few  slaves  to  his  own  house.  On  ex- 
amining the  body,  there  were  found  twenty-three  wounds 
sufficiently  ghastly,  although  no  more  tlian  one  or  two 
were  mortal.  Antony  determined  to  exhibit  this  spectacle 
to  the  people,  accompanied  with  that  of  the  robes,  which 
vere  pierced  arid  torn  in  the  struggle  with  which  Cesar  fell, 
and  all  over  stained  with  his  blood.  He  likewise  ordered 
a  solemn  dirge  to  be  performed,  with  interludes  of  music, 
agreeable  to  the  practice  at  Roman  funerals,  and  suited  to 
that  particular  occasion.  He  himself  prepared  to  speak 
the  oration ;  and  though  it  was  intended  that  the  body 
should  be  consumed  on  a  pile  in  the  Campus  Martins,  the 
funeral  oration  was  to  be  spoken  from  the  rostra  in  the 
forum,  and  a  couch  was  placed  there,  adorned  with  ivory 
and  gold,  on  which  was  laid  the  corpse  with  an  effigy  of  the 
deceased,  covered  with  purple,  and  over  it  a  trophy,  on 
which  were  to  be  hung  the  robes  in  which  he  was  killed. 
The  whole  of  this  pageant  was  covered  up,  and  adorned 
with  a  gilded  canopy  of  state. 

Antony  began  the  funeral  oration  with  stating  the 
demand  made  on  him  by  his  station  as  consul  to  proceed 
with  that  duty.  "But  in  this  instance,"  said  he,"  the 
•ulogiurn  of  the  de«d  must  proceed  from  a  higner  authority 


Ce.  11.3  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  433 

than  mine.  The  senate  and  the  people  of  Rome  have 
spoken,  and  they  have  left  to  me  only  the  task  of  repeating 
what  they  have  said."  After  these  words,  he  read  over  the 
decrees  of  the  senate  and  people,  enumerating  the  titles, 
dignities,  honours,  and  powers  which  had  been  conferred 
on  Cesar.  He  spoke  of  the  lustre  of  his  family,  the  graces 
and  accomplishments  of  his  person,  and  of  his  singular 
abilities  ;  gave  a  general  account  of  the  wars  in  which  he 
had  been  engaged,  his  splendid  successes  and  the  accession 
of  glory  and  of  empire  he  had  procured  to  the  Roman  state: 
and  when  he  had  gained  so  far  on  the  attention  of  liis  audi- 
ence, he  addressed  himself  to  the  popular  part  in  particular. 
••  When  you  were  oppressed,"  he  said,  "  by  a  faction  tha 
engrossed  all  the  powers  and  dignities  of  thecommon wealth, 
Cesar  generously  interposed  in  your  behalf.  When  this 
faction  had  withdrawn  themselves  from  the  allegiance  that 
was  due  to  the  government  of  their  country  ;  and  when 
they  had  actually  armed  first  the  provinces  of  Spain,  after- 
wards Macedonia,  Greece,  Asia,  Africa,  and  all  the  eastern 
parts  of  the  empire  against  you,  he  braved  the  storms  of 
winter  and  the  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  and  dispersed 
the  cloud  which  had  gathered  over  your  heads.  On  the 
subject  of  his  administration  in  the  state,  I  need  not  make 
any  observation  to  you.  You  were  witnesses  of  his  con- 
duct. Descended  of  your  ancient  kings,  he  had  more  glory 
in  refusing  a  crown  that  was  offered  to  him,  than  they  had 
in  wearing  it  with  all  its  honours. — You  loved  him — you 
set  him  at  the  head  of  your  priesthood — at  the  head  of  your 
army — at  the  head  of  the  republic.  But  he  is  no  more ! — 
This  sacred  person  is  now  breathless  before  you.  The  father 
>f  his  country  is  dead  :  not  alas !  of  disease— not  of  the 
decline  of  years— not  by  the  hands  of  foreign  enemies— not 
.ar  from  his  own  country — but  here  within  your  walls, 
and  in  the  Roman  senate,  in  the  vigour  of  health,  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  designs  for  your  prosperity  and  glory.  He 
who  often  repelled  the  swords  of  his  enemies,  has  fallen  by 
the  hands  of  treacherous  friends,  or  by  the  hands  of  those 
whom  his  clemency  had  spared.  His  mangled  body,  and  his 
grey  hairs  clotted  with  blood,  are  now  exposed  in  that 
forum  which  he  so  often  adorned  with  his  triumphs  ;  and 
near  to  that  place  of  public  debate,  from  which  he  so  often 
captivated  the  people  of  Rome  with  his  eloquence." 

At  this  passage,  it  is  said  that  Antony  began  to  change 
the  tone  of  lamentation  into  that  of  rage ;  that  he  raised 
his  voice  to  indignation  and  threats,  but  that  he  was 
checked  by  a  general  murmur  of  the  senators  ;  and  that  he 
thought  proper  again  to  soften  Ins  expressions.  Having 
O  o 


431  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

done  so,  he  tucked  up  his  robe,  and  disengaged  his  arms  as 
for  some  vehement  action  ;  and  held  up  the  torn  and  bloody 
garment  to  view,  sank  again  into  a  sorrowful  tone,  and 
prayed  that  it  were  possible  for  him  to  redeem  that  precious 
life  with  his  own.  Being  interrupted  with  a  general  cry 
of  lamentation  from  the  people,  he  made  a  pause  to  hear 
the  interlude.  At  a  passage  of  the  song,  in  which  Cesar 
was  personated  in  the  following  words,  "  For  this  I  spared, 
that  they  might  murder  me ;"  a  general  cry  of  indignation 
burst  from  the  multitude  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  effigf 
of  the  dead,  with  all  its  wounds  and  stains  of  blood  was 
raised  to  view.  The  people,  at  this,  appeared  to  be  seized 
with  an  epidemical  frenzy ;  they  ran  through  the  streets 
denouncing  vengeance  on  his  enemies,  and  proceeded  to 
violence  against  every  person  who  was  represented  as  such. 
Being  led  by  the  retainers  and  dependants  of  Cesar's  family, 
they  snatched  lighted  brands  from  the  funeral  pile,  and 
attacked  the  houses  of  Brutus,  Cassius,  and  the  other  con- 
spirators. They  even  attempted  to  demolish  Pompey's 
theatre,  in  which  Cesar  had  been  killed,  and  lighting  many 
fires  at  once  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  threatened  the 
whole  with  immediate  destruction. 

In  these  riots,  though  projected  by  Antony,  the  public 
disorder  was  carried  to  a  greater  height  than  he  had  wished 
or  foreseen,  and  he  found  himself  obliged,  with  the  author- 
ity of  magistrate,  to  interpose  and  put  an  end  to  tumults 
of  so  dangerous  a  nature.  For  this  purpose,  in  concert 
with  Dolabella,  he  issued  an  edict,  prohibiting  the  populace 
to  assemble  in  arms  on  any  pretence  whatever,  and  posted 
guards  in  different  parts  of  the  town  to  secure  the  observ- 
ance of  it.  Having  by  these  means  restored  the  peace  of 
the  city,  and  dispersed  all  the  crowds  which  had  assembled, 
except  that  which  still  remained  at  the  place  of  Cesar's 
.uneral,  where  the  populace  continued  for  some  time  to 
feed  the  pile,  he  made  a  journey  to  the  country,  and  re- 
wained  in  Campania  great  part  of  April  and  May.  In  his 
absence,  one  Ematius,  who  had  formerly  assumed  the  name 
of  Marius,  and  under  this  popular  designation  had  been 
busy  in  disturbing  the  public  peace,  affected  to  lead  in  the 
riotous  honours  which  were  paid  to  the  memory  of  Cesar. 
On  this  occasion,  Dolabella  made  a  vigorous  use  of  his 
power  against  this  impostor,  gave  orders  that  Ematius 
should  be  put  to  death,  and  many  of  his  accomplices  thrown 
from  the  Tarpeian  rock. 

By  these  executions,  the  peace  of  the  city  seemed  to  be 
established,  and  even  the  commonwealth  itself  in  some 
measure  restored.  Both  the  consuls  affected  the  character 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  435 

of  ordinary  magistrates,  showed  a  proper  deference  to  the 
senate,  and  in  all  things  endeavoured  to  ^ive  satisfaction  to 
the  friend*  of  the  republic.  Antony,  upon  his  return  to  the 
city,  referred  the  determination  of  every  question  to  the 
tree  discussion  of  the  senate  ;  and  in  pursuance  of  a  system 
of  moderation,  proposed  that  Sextus,  the  remaining  son  of 
Pompey,  who  under  the  authority  of  the  late  dictator  had 
been  declared  an  outlaw,  should  be  restored  to  his  country, 
and  have  a  compensation  in  money  for  the  losses  which 
had  been  sustained  by  his  family.  At  the  same  time,  all 
the  honorary  votes  which  had  passed  in  favour  of  Brutus 
and  Cassius,  and  every  act  which  had  a  tendency  to  mitigate 
the  animosity  of  Cesar's  party,  to  pad  f y  the  veterans,  and 
to  incline  them,  without  any  farther  disturbance,  to  settle 
on  the  lands  which  had  been  allotted  to  them,  had  his  con- 
currence. 

'  These  circumstances  had  a  very  favourable  aspect,  and 
the  storm  which  threatened  the  city  an  I  the  commonwealth 
appeared  to  be  laid.  All  the  conspirators,  in  the  height  of 
the  late  disorders  which  arose  on  account  of  Cesar's  fun- 
eral, had  withdrawn  from  the  city,  and,  under  different 
honourable  pretences  which  were  furnished  them  by  the 
Benate,  continued  to  absent  themselves  from  Rome.  Under 
the  present  aspect  of  public  affairs,  and  after  the  consuls 
had  given  such  evident  proofs  of  their  respect  for  the  com- 
monwealth, it  was  supposed  that  the  authors  of  the  late 
revolution  might  now  return  in  safety  to  the  capital ;  and 
many  were  confident  of  the  perfect  restoration  of  peace  to 
the  republic.  In  this,  however,  they  overrated  the  profes- 
sions, and  mistook  the  designs  of  Antony.  This  profligate 
adventurer  was  greatly  awed  by  the  abilities  of  Brutus 
and  Cassius,  by  the  respect  which  was  paid  them  by  the 
public,  by  their  credit  with  the  senate,  and  by  their  deter- 
mined resolution  to  maintain  its  authority.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  fortify  himself  against  them,  he  maintained  a 
continual  correspondence  with  the  veterans  of  the  late 
Cesar's  army,  courted  their  attachment,  and  stated  himself 
as  their  protector  and  leader.  In  this  capacity,  he  made 
iis  visit  to  their  settlements  in  Campania,  where,  it  has 
been  observed,  he  passed  the  greater  part  of  the  months  of 
April  and  May.  At  his  return,  he  endeavoured  to  streng- 
then himself  still  more,  by  entering  into  a  concert  with 
Lepidus,  who,  in  the  quality  of  second  in  command  to 
Cesar,  or  general  of  the  horse  to  the  dictator,  remained  at 
the  head  of  all  the  military  forces  in  Italy.  He  engaged 
himself  to  obtain  for  Lepidus  the  dignity  of  chief  pontiff; 
and,  in  order  to  cement  the  union  of  their  families,  pro- 


436  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

posed  a  marriage  of  his  own  daughter  with  the  son  of  this 
officer.  He  also  tried  to  gain  Dolabella.  Notwithstanding 
that  Cassius  was  already  appointed  to  the  government  of 
Syria,  Antony,  according  to  an  agreement,  undertook  to 
support  the  pretensions  of  Dolabella,  and  to  aid  him  in 
supplanting  Cassius  at  the  meeting  of  the  senate,  which 
was  to  be  held  on  the  first  of  June.  Having  formerly  ob- 
tained a  resolution  of  the  senate  to  confirm  all  the  acts,  and 
to  maintain  the  arrangements  which  had  been  devised  by 
Cesar,  and  being  master  of  the  papers  and  memorials  in 
which  these  were  contained,  he  brought  extracts  and  quo- 
tations from  them  in  support  of  his  several  proposals,  with- 
out producing  the  originals ;  and  in  this  form  commenced, 
in  the  name  of  the  dead,  a  reign  more  arbitrary  than  that 
of  the  living  Cesar  had  been.  As  he  had  never  communi- 
cated to  any  one  the  papers  or  memorials  from  which  these 
authorities  were  drawn,  he  expunged  or  he  inserted  what- 
ever he  thought  proper,  or  even,  without  taking  this  trouble, 
framed  his  quotations  on  every  subject  to  the  purpose  which 
he  meant  to  serve.  Relying  on  certain  artifices,  which 
procured  him  the  support  of  the  army,  he  rose  every  day  in 
his  presumption ;  and  while  he  incited  Dolabella  to  persist 
in  supplanting  Cassius  in  the  province  of  Syria,  he  himself 
proposed  to  supplant  Brutus  in  his  nomination  to  the 
government  of  Macedonia.  By  this  appointment,  he  meant 
to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army,  which  Cesar,  to 
be  in  readiness  for  his  Asiatic  or  Parthian  expedition,  had 
transported  into  Macedonia.  At  a  meeting  of  the  senate, 
Antony  obtained  for  himself,  without  opposition,  the  gov- 
ernment of  Macedonia,  with  the  command  of  the  army 
which  had  been  destined  for  Asia,  but  which,  from  Cesar's 
death,  had  remained  in  that  province.  He  at  the  same 
time  obtained  for  Dolabella  the  province  of  Syria  to  the 
exclusion  of  Cassius;  and  by  these  several  acts  stated 
himself  and  his  colleague  as  in  open  enmity  with  the  leaders 
of  the  republican  party,  whom  they  had  lately  affected  to 
court,  but  whom  they  now  proceeded  to  strip  of  the  pre- 
ferments and  honours  which  had  been  assigned  to  them  by 
the  commonwealth. 

About  this  time,  and  alarmed  by  these  appearances,  Ci- 
cero, who  had  hitherto  maintained  some  degree  of  neutral- 
ity or  moderation  between  the  parties,  departed  from 
Rome.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  June  he  arrived  at  Antium, 
where  he  found  Brutus,  with  his  wife  Porcia,  and  mother 
Servilia,  with  other  persons  of  distinction.  While  the  com- 
pany were  yet  deliberating  on  public  affairs,  they  were 
joined  by  Cassius,  who  complained,  that  opportunities  had 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  43, 

been  lost  of  rendering  effectual  the  first  and  principal  step 
which  had  been  taken  to  deliver  the  commonwealth,  and 
was  inclined  to  blame  Decimus  Brutus  for  some  part  of  this 
neglect.  Cicero  censured  the  conduct  of  the  whole  party, 
for  not  having  secured  the  completion  of  a  business  that 
was  so  successfully  begun.  "  You  ought,"  he  said,  "imme- 
diately upon  the  death  of  Cesar,  to  have  assumed  the 
government,  to  have  called  the  senate  by  your  own 
authority,  and  to  have  taken  advantage  of  the  spirit  thaf 
was  generally  raised  among  the  people  for  the  recovery  c% 
their  legal  constitution." 

In  the  result  of  this  conference,  Brutus  and  Cassius,  as 
•veil  as  Cicero,  took  their  resolution  to  depart  from  Italy ; 
and  the  two  former,  before  their  departure,  wrote  a  joint 
letter  to  Antony,  conveyed  in  expressions  that  were 
guarded  and  polite ;  but  demanding  an  explanation  of  the 
terms  in  which  they  stood  with  him,  and  of  the  purposes 
for  which  he  had  assembled  the  veterans  of  Cesar  in  such 
numbers  at  Rome.  Some  time  after  this  letter  was  sent, 
they  drew  up  a  joint  edict  or  manifesto,  setting  forth  tho 
cause  of  their  absence  from  the  capital,  and  protesting 
against  the  violence  which  was  daily  offered  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  republic. 

In  answer  to  this  letter,  and  to  the  paper  with  which  it 
was  followed,  Antony  issued  a  manifesto  full  of  invective 
and  contumely,  and  which  he  transmitted,  under  a  formal 
address,  to  the  pretors  Brutus  and  Cassius,  accompanied 
with  a  letter  in  the  same  style. 

These  altercations  led  to  an  open  breach.  The  pretors 
wrote  to  Decimus  Brutus,  Trebonius,  and  Cimber,  to  put 
their  several  provinces  in  a  state  of  defence,  and  to  make 
what  further  provision  they  could  of  men  and  money  as  lor 
a  certain  war.  Cicero,  on  receiving  the  manifestoes  of 
Urtitus  and  Cassius,  and  pressing  demands  for  his  presence 
at  Rome,  discontinued  his  voyage  to  Greece,  and  returned 
to  the  capital. 

On  his  arrival  in  the  city,  he  found  that  the  outrages 
Antony  was  likely  to  commit  were  such,  as  to  make  it  ex- 
tremely unsafe  for  any  distinguished  friend  of  the  republic 
to  come  in  his  power.  For  this  reason,  Cicero,  on  the  first 
meeting  of  senate,  sent  an  excuse,  pleading  the  ill  state  of  hi* 
health,  which  obliged  him  to  remain  shut  up  in  his  own 
house.  Antony  considered  his  absence  from  the  senate  as 
an  affront  to  himself,  or  as  giving  too  much  countenance  to 
the  suspicions  which  were  entertained  of  his  violent  inten^ 
tions.  Under  this  impression  he  burst  into  rage,  and  sen| 
an  officer  to  require  the  attendance  of  Cicera.  Bwung  hinv 
O  o2 


438  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

self  absent  from  the  senate  on  the  following  day,  Cicero 
ventured  to  take  his  seat,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  consul, 
delivered  that  oration  which  is  entitled  the  first  Philippic. 
In  this  speech  he  accounted  for  his  late  retirement  from  the 
capital,  and  for  his  present  return,  in  terms  strongly  reflect- 
ing on  the  conduct  and  administration  of  the  presen 
consul.  Antony,  in  his  turn,  greatly  exasperated  by  the 
accounts  he  received  of  Cicero's  speech,  prepared  to  reply  a 
a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  senate ;  and  delivered  himse*. 
accordingly  with  great  acrimony  against  his  antagonist. 

While  this  profligate  consul  was  throwing  oft' the  mask  of 
legal  magistrate,  a  new  actor  appeared  on  the  stage  of  pub- 
lic aft'airs.  This  was  Caius  Octavius,  the  grand  nephew  o. 
Julius  Cesar,  by  his  niece  Attia,  and  the  son  of  Octavius, 
who,  in  the  course  of  state  preferments,  had  arrived  at  the 
dignity  of  pretor ;  and  in  this  rank,  having  governed  the 
province  of  Macedonia,  died  suddenly  on  his  return  from 
thence.  His  widow,  the  mother  of  this  young  man,  mar- 
ried Philippus,  a  citizen  of  moderate  parts,  but  upright  in- 
tentions. In  the  house  of  Philippus  the  young  Octavius 
was  brought  up,  and  passed  his  early  years,  while  his  grand- 
uncle  was  engaged  in  forcing  his  way  at  the  head  of  armies 
to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  empire.  Elevated  by  his 
connexion  with  this  relation  to  a  high  situation  and  to 
higher  views,  he  had  followed  him  in  the  late  campaign, 
against  the  sons  of  Pompey  in  Spain,  and  was  intended, 
though  a  minor,  to  succeed  Lepidus,  under  the  dictator,  as 
general  of  the  horse. 

After  the  assassination  of  Cesar,  Octavius  assumed  his 
name  and  designation.  The  veterans,  in  general,  who  had 
grants  of  land,  flocked  to  him :  complained  of  the  remiss- 
uess  of  Antony  in  suttering  the  assassins  of  his  own  friend 
and  benefactor  to  go  unpunished,  and  declared  their  reso- 
lution to  be  revenged  as  soon  as  any  person  appeared  to 
lead  them.  Octavius  thanked  them  for  their  grateful  re- 
spect to  his  father's  memory,  but  exhorted  them  to  modera- 
tion and  submission.  He  wished  to  know  the  state  of 
parties  more  exactly  before  he  should  declare  himself. 

One  morning,  attended  by  a  numerous  company  of  his 
friends,  he  repaired  to  the  forum,  and  presented  himself 
before  the  pretor  C.  Antonius,  the  brother  of  the  consul,  in 
order  to  declare  in  form  his  acceptance  of  the  inheritance  of 
his  late  uncle,  and  in  order  to  be  invested  with  the  name  of 
Cesar.  From  thence  he  went  to  Pompey's  gardens,  where 
Antony  then  resided ;  and  after  being  made  to  wait,  for 
some  time,  in  a  manner  that  sufficiently  expressed,  on  the 
part  of  Antony,  a  dislike  to  his  visit,  he  was  admitted  to  a 


CH.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  4^9 

conference.  Having  been  educated  as  the  nearest  relation  to 
Cesar,  and  destined  to  inherit  his  fortunes,  he  had  conceived 
the  extent  of  his  own  importance  from  the  height  of  Cesar's 
power;  he  considered  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire,  in 
some  measure,  as  his  birthright,  and  his  own  interest  as  the 
central  point  to  which  all  public  transactions  should  tend. 
In  this  conference  with  Antony,  he  is  said  to  have  betrayed 
more  of  this  character  than  suited  his  present  condition,  or 
than  could  be  reconciled  with  the  discretion  with  which 
he  had  acted  on  other  occasions.  Antony,  being  surprised 
and  piqued  at  the  arrogance  of  his  language,  and  of  his 
pretensions,  endeavoured  to  check  his  ambition,  by  putting 
him  in  mind,  that  although  he  was  named  the  heir  of 
Cesar's  estate,  he  must  not  pretend  to  inherit  his  dignities ; 
that  the  Roman  constitution  acknowledged  no  hereditary 
powers ;.  that  he  ought  to  remember  in  whose  presence  he 
stood ;  that  the  Roman  consul  must  be  equally  indifferent 
to  his  approbation,  or  to  his  censure.  "  To  me,"  he  said, 
H  t  was  owing  that  your  uncle  was  not  declared  an  usurper 
and  a  tyrant;  consequently,  to  me  it  is  owing  that  you 
have  any  other  inheritance  by  him  besides  the  disgrace  of 
being"  related  to  a  traitor. 

Octavius  and  Antony  parted  on  very  ill  terms,  and  were 
publicly  known  to  have  quarreled.  Octavius,  from  an 
affected  zeal  to  put  the  people  in  possession  of  the  legacy 
bequeathed  to  them  by  his  father,  brought  his  own  effects 
to  sale.  Antony,  on  his  part,  promoted  the  inquiry  into 
the  applications  of  public  money,  and  gave  out,  that  the 
Ivirs  of  the  late  dictator  would  have  great  sums  to  refund, 
*nd  little  reversion.  These  heirs,  in  return,  pleaded  the 
late  decree  of  the  senate  and  people,  ratifying  all  Cesar's 
acts,  and  consequently  precluding  all  inquiries  into  this,  or 
any  other  part  of  his  administration ;  but  as  Antony  could 
fabricate  acts  of  Cesar,  when  wanting  to  his  purpose,  so  he 
sould  set  aside  or  evade  real  acts  when  they  stood  in  his  way. 

Although  the  senators  in  general  promoted  the  claims  of 
Octavius,  and  considered  him  as  a  zealous  confederate 
against  Antony,  who  was  the  principal  object  of  their  fears, 
the  conspirators  saw  in  him  the  representative  of  their  late 
enemy  and  the  leader  of  Cesar's  army.  They  endeavoured 
to  put  their  friends  on  their  guard  against  him,  and  by  al! 
means  in  their  power  to  counteract  his  popular  arts.  For 
this  purpose  the  public  entertainments,  which  were  this  year 
to  have  been  given  by  Brutus  in  the  quality  of  pretor,  wero 
provided  and  exhibited  in  his  absence  with  great  splendour. 

The  officers  whom  Antony  had  assembled  as  a  guard  to 
His  person,  ventured  to  expostulate  with  him  on  a  breacli 


440  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

which  was  so  likely  to  reduce  their  force,  and  they  exhorted 
him  to  act  in  concert  with  Octavius,  at  least  until  they  had 
obtained  a  just  revenge  against  the  assassins  of  Cesar.  On 
this  occasion  Antony  entered  into  the  reasons  of  his  past 
conduct,  and  accounted  for  the  concessions  which  he  had 
made  to  the  senate,  as  necessary  to  obtain  the  conditions  on 
which  the  present  flourishing  state  of  the  party  depended. 
In  compliance,  however,  with  the  intreaties  which  were  now 
made  to  him,  he  had  an  interview  with  Octavius,  at  which 
they  were,  in  appearance,  reconciled  to  each  other  ;  but 
their  pretensions  were  far  from  being  sufficiently  adjusted 
to  render  the  agreement  of  long  continuance.  Effects  of 
their  jealousies  and  animosities  accordingly  soon  after  ap- 
peared, such  as  rendered  an  open  breach  again  unavoidable. 

In  the  late  interval  of  military  usurpation,  the  senators 
in  general,  though  willing  to  resume  the  government,  were 
actually  unable  to  bear  the  load  which  it  was  likely  to  lay 
on  their  shoulders.  They  rejoiced  at  the  breach  between 
Octavius  and  Antony  ;  but  if  these  adventurers  should  con- 
tinue to  quarrel  about  the  spoils  of  the  commonwealth,  the 
greater  part  of  those  who  had  any  interest  in  defending  it 
were  no  more  than  a  prey  to  the  conqueror.  Clouds  hung 
over  their  councils  on  every  side.  The  officers  who  had 
served  under  Cesar  in  the  late  civil  war,  were  posted  at  the 
head  of  armies  in  the  most  advantageous  situations.  Asinius 
Pollio  had  the  command  in  the  further  province  of  Spain, 
Lepidus  in  the  nearer ;  Plancus  commanded  in  Gaul,  and 
Antony  in  Macedonia.  The  veterans  remained  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Rome  with  swords  in  their  hands,  anxious 
for  the  settlements  which  had  been  lately  assigned  to  them 
by  Cesar.  These  they  did  not  believe  to  be  secure,  with- 
out the  destruction  of  every  law  and  of  every  form  which 
could  be  cited  to  favour  the  claims  of  the  former  pro- 
prietors. 

Antony  made  rapid  advances  to  the  military  usurpation 
he  had  some  time  projected.  Having  availed  himself  so  far 
of  his  nomination  to  the  government  of  Macedonia,  as  to 
get  possession  of  the  numerous  and  respectable  army  which 
Cesar,  on  their  way  to  the  Parthian  war,  had  transported 
thither,  he  proceeded  to  exchange  that  province  for  th« 
Cisalpine  Gaul ;  and,  under  pretence  of  expelling  Decimus 
Brutus  from  thence,  had  ordered  the  army  of  Cesar  to  be 
transported  back  into  Italy.  He  professed  to  employ  this 
army  merely  in  gaining  possession  of  the  province  which 
had  lately  been  decreed  to  him  by  the  people.  But  in  the 
desire  of  occupying,  with  an  army,  that  very  station  from 
i  which  Cesar  had  so  successfully  invaded  the  republic,  ho 


Ca.    II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  441 

sufficiently  evinced  the  designs  which  he  had  formed  against 
the  republic. 

Under  these  impressions,  while  Antony  took  the  road  to 
Bruiidusium,  Octavius  repaired  to  Campania,  and,  by  large 
donations  in  money  engaged  the  veterans  who  were  settled 
at  Calatia,  Casiliuum,  and  Capua,  to  declare  for  himself. 
With  this  powerful  support,  he  published  his  intention  to 
withstand  the  consul,  and  took  measures  to  procure  the 
authority  of  the  senate  against  their  common  enemy.  He 
professed  great  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  republic,  and  affected 
to  put  himself  entirely  under  the  direction  of  Cicero,  now 
the  most  respectable  member  of  the  senate  that  was  left. 
By  the  advice  of  Cicero,  Octavius  having  assembled  ten 
thousand  men,  without  waiting  to  array,  or  even  to  have 
them  completely  armed,  advanced  by  hasty  marches  to  pre- 
vent Antony,  who  about  the  same  time  had  marched  from 
Brundusium,  and  was  hastening  to  advance  in  the  same 
direction. 

The  city  was  thrown  into  a  great  alarm  by  this  unexpected 
approach  of  two  hostile  armies.  Some  expressed  their  fears 
of  Antony,  others  of  Octavius,  and  some  of  both.  Octavius, 
having  the  advantage  of  a  shorter  march,  arrived  before  his 
antagonist ;  and  being  within  two  miles  of  the  city,  was  re- 
ceived by  Canutius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  whom  he  soon  after 
sent  back  into  the  city,  with  assurances,  that  he  had  as- 
sembled his  party  not  to  second,  but  to  oppose  the  designs 
of  Antony ;  and  that  his  purpose  was  to  employ  all  the  force 
he  could  raise  for  the  defence  of  the  commonwealth.  The 
tribune  Canutius,  in  reporting  what  passed  with  Octavius, 
exhorted  all  who  wished  to  preserve  the  republic  to  lend 
their  assistance  in  execution  of  this  design.  Octavius  con- 
ducted himself  between  the  parties  with  great  address ;  to 
the  veterans  he  talked  of  avenging  Cesar's  death  ;  to  the 
friends  of  the  republic  he  set  forth  the  dangerous  designs  of 
Antony,  affected  to  sacrifice  all  private  resentment  to  his 
zeal  for  the  commonwealth,  even  promoted  the  election  of 
Casca  into  the  college  of  tribunes,  and  affected  in  all  things 
to  be  governed  by  the  senate.  What  hopes,  in  the  meantime, 
could  be  for  med  for  the  state  ?  The  senators  stood  in  awe  oi 
Antony,  and  were  afraid  to  provoke  him  by  an  open  declara- 
tion. Octavius  did  not  yet  appear  to  be  in  condition  to  cope 
with  the  Roman  consul ;  and  if  he  were  in  condition  to  do 
so,  would  be  likely  to  form  designs  equally  dangerous  to 
the  commonwealth.  Antony,  with  a  numerous  army,  had 
all  the  authority  of  government  in  his  hands.  The  disposi- 
tions of  Pansa  and  Hirtius,  the  consuls  named  by  Cesar  for 
the  ensuing  year,  were  yet  unknown. — Although  many 


442  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

thing's  were  transacted  in  name  of  the  senate,  this  order  of 
men  scarcely  ventured  to  resume  their  ordinary  functions, 
and  shook  under  the  rod  which  Cesar  had  lifted  over  them, 
even  while  it  hung1  in  suspense  between  different  divisions 
of  his  remaining'  party. 

It  was  evident  from  every  circumstance,  that  the  fate  of 
the  empire  was  to  be  determined  by  the  sword.  The  troop* 
feeling  their  consequence,  affected  indifference  to  every  in- 
terest but  their  own,  and  presumed  to  treat  with  equal  con- 
tempt, in  their  turns,  the  different  persons  who  assumed 
the  command  off  them.  Of  the  five  legions  which  had  beel 
quartered  in  Macedonia,  four  were  landed  at  Brundusiunr 
when  Antony  arrived  at  that  place.  They  turned  out  on 
his  coming1,  but  did  not  receive  him  with  the  usual  acclama- 
tions and  shouts.  They  closed  hi  profound  silence  round 
the  platform  from  which  he  was  to  speak,  as  having-  sus- 
pended their  judgment,  until  they  should  know  what 
gratuities  they  were  to  receive  in  reward  of  their  services. 
When  he  mentioned  four  hundred  sestertii,  or  between 
three  and  four  pounds  a  man.  This  being  far  short  of  the 
rewards  that  were  expected  for  giving  a  new  master  to  th« 
commonwealth,  he  was  answered  with  signs  of  derision. 
In  return  to  this  insolence,  Antony  assumed  a  tona  whick 
tended  rather  to  exasperate  than  to  overawe  his  audience. 
He  reproached  these  legions  with  ingratitude  for  the  favoui 
he  had  recently  done  them,  in  changing  their  destination 
from  Parthia  to  the  Cisalpine  Gaul ;  and  with  treachery,  in 
having  suffered  to  remain  among  them  the  emissaries,  whont 
he  knew  that  a  presumptuous  boy  had  employed  to  debauch 
them  from  their-duty.  "  These,  "  he  said,  "  shall  not  escape 
me;  in  the  mean  time  prepare  yourselves  to  march  into  tho 
province  which  is  allotted  for  your  station." 

Antony,  while  he  yet  continued  to  speak,  had  the  morti- 
fication to  see  entire  cohorts,  with  their  officers,  withdraw 
from  his  presence,  uttering  words  of  contempt  and  of  scorn. 
Seeing  the  desertion  likely  to  become  general,  and  being 
greatly  provoked,  he  dismissed  the  audience,  sentenced 
Jxree  hundred  officers  and  private  men  to  immediate  death, 
and  stood  by  while  they  perished  under  the  hands  of  the 
executioners. 

The  offence  that  was  taken  by  the  soldiery  at  these 
cruelties  induced  their  commander  to  bethink  himself  and 
change  his  tone.  In  a  second  address  to  the  army,  he  made 
an  apology  for  his  late  severities.  They  knew,  he  said,  his 
character,  that  it  was  neither  sordid  nor  severe ;  that  the 
sums  he  had  mentioned  were  no  more  than  a  present  to 
signalize  their  meeting,  and  an  earnest  of  his  future  muni- 


Cii.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  443 

ficence.  He  did  not,  however,  at  this  time,  make  any  addi- 
tion to  his  former  bounty,  lest  it  should  appear  to  be  extort- 
ed from  him  by  fear. 

The  soldiers,  in  appearance,  satisfied  with  these  declara- 
tions, accepted  with  respect  the  sum  which  had  been  offered 
to  them ;  submitted  to  the  changes  which  had  been  made 
among  their  officers,  and  marched  off  iu  divisions  by  the 
coast  of  the  Adriatic  towards  Ariminum.  Antony  himself, 
with  an  escort  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  composed  of  met 
the  bravest  and  most  attached  to  his  person,  whom  he  had 
selected  from  the  whole  army,  set  out  for  Rome.  At  h 
arrival,  he  summoned  the  senate  to  meet,  and,  in  the  pro 
clamation  or  summons,  declared,  that  if  any  senator  absent- 
ed himself  on  that  day,  lie  should  be  deemed  an  accessary 
to  a  plot  against  the  consul's  life,  which  had  been  lately  dis- 
covered, and  an  accomplice  in  the  other  wicked  designs 
known  to  be  in  agitation  against  the  republic. 

He  intended  to  obtain  a  decree  against  Octavius  ;  whom, 
in  all  his  manifestos,  he  qualified  with  the  name  of  Sparta- 
cus;  as  having,  without  any  legal  authority,  presumed  to 
levy  war  against  the  state :  but,  as  he  entered  the  porch  of 
the  senate-house,  a  messenger  arrived  with  accounts  that 
the  legio  Martia  had  deserted  with  its  colours  to  Octavius. 
Before  he  had  recovered  this  shock,  another  messenger 
came  with  a  like  account  of  the  fourth  legion.  He  entered 
the  senate,  but  very  much  disconcerted,  and  unprepared  to 
act  in  circumstances  so  different  from  those  with  which  he 
laid  his  account.  He  avoided  the  mention  of  Octavius; 
and  pretending  to  have  called  the  assembly,  without  any 
particular  business,  he  made  a  short  speech  and  adjourned. 
From  this  meeting,  hearing  that  one  of  the  revolted  legions 
had  taken  post  at  Alba,  he  instantly  repaired  to  that  place, 
in  hopes  of  reclaiming  them ;  but  was  received  with  a  dis- 
charge of  arrows  and  stones  from  the  battlements,  and 
obliged  to  retire.  Fearing  that  the  remainder  of  the  army 
would  follow  this  example,  he  ordered  them  an  additional 
gratuity  of  five  hundred  sestertii,  or  about  four  pounds  a 
man.  And,  to  give  them  an  immediate  prospect  of  action, 
which  is  often  the  most  effectual  means  of  stifling  danger- 
ous humours  in  an  army,  he  declared  his  intention  to  make 
war  on  Decimus  Brutus,  in  order  to  dislodge  him  from  the 
province  of  Gaul.  In  pursuance  of  this  intention,  he  set  up 
uis  standard  at  Tibur,  to  which  place  he  expected  that  aU 
hid  friends  and  adherents  would  repair. 

Antony,  being  joined  by  the  last  of  the  troops  from  Ma- 
eedonia,had  in  all  four  legions,  besides  the  ordinary  attend- 
ance of  irregular  troops,  and  the  crowds  of  people  that 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V, 

flocked  to  liis  standard.  With  this  formidable  power,  hav- 
ing for  a  few  days  overawed  the  city,  and  drawn  around 
him  the  greatest  part  of  the  senate,  and  of  the  equestrian 
order,  with  many  of  the  people  who  had  so  lately  declared 
for  his  rival,  he  set  out  on  his  march  to  Ariminum,  the  last 
place  of  Italy  on  the  frontier  of  Gaul. 

Octavius,  at  the  same  time,  had  assembled  his  forces  at 
Alba,  consisting  of  the  two  legions  who  had  lately  com 
over  to  him  from  Antony,  one  legion  of  new*  levies^ 
together  with  two  of  the  veterans  lately  embodied,  which, 
not  being  full,  were  completed -with  the  choice  of  his  new- 
raised  men.  He  made  a  report  to  the  senate  of  the  number 
and  description  of  the  troops  he  had  thus  assembled,  and 
received  their  thanks  and  congratulations.  It  is  neverthe- 
less probable  that  his  services  were  received  by  this  body 
with  great  distrust  of  their  own  situation,  and  of  his  de- 
wgns. 


CHAP.  III. 

Situation  and  Address  of  Oclavius — Meeting  of  the  Senate— Progress  ey 
Antony— His  March  into  Gaul— Message  of  Octavius  to  Decimut  Bru* 
tus—Neio  Consuls  Hirtius  and  Pansa— Meeting  of  the  Senate—  Depu- 
tation to  Antony — His  Answer— Declared  an  enemy— Advance  of 
Hirtius  and  Octavius  to  raise  the  siege  of  Mutina— Brutus  and  Cassiut 
confirmed  in  the  command  of  all  the  Eastern  Provinces— Progress  of  the 
War  in  Gaul  —Siege  of  Mutina  raised  —Junction  of  Antony  and  Le- 
pidus  —  Consulate  of  Octavius. 

WHEN  Antony  left  Rome  to  take  possession  of  the  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  Octavius  was  in  arms  at  the  gates  of  the  city,  and, 
though  a  mere  youth  under  age,  was  furnished  with  every 
urt  which  age  itself  could  bestow,  to  qualify  him  for  the 
part  he  was  to  act.  He  had  gained  upon  the  army  by  dona- 
tions and  promises ;  upon  the  senate  by  public  professions 
of  duty  and  of  zeal  for  the  republic;  and  on  particular 
members  by  attentions  and  flattery.  In  this  situation,  it 
became  necessary  for  the  senate,  either  to  authorize  and  to 
avail  themselves  of  this  ultroneous  support ;  or,  by  refusing 
it,  to  drive  the  veterans,  and  all  the  military  party  which 
still  revered  the  name  of  Cesar,  into  measures  immediately 
fatal  to  the  republic.  At  their  first  meeting  Octavius  was 
introduced  by  the  tribune,  and  pronounced  a  panegyric  on 
Brutus.  Cicero,  in  a  speech  which  is  still  extant,  extolled 
Uie  conduct  of  the  young  Cesar  in  arming  the  veterans,  as 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  445 

a  generous  effort  made  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life,  and  of 
his  private  fortune,  to  defend  the  republic.  He  applauded 
the  two  legions  who  had  lately  deserted  from  Antony  ;  and 
M'armly  urged  the  senate  to  support  Decimus  Brutus  in  his 
province.  He  moved,  that  thanks  should  be  given  to  these 
officers,  and  to  the  troops  who  adhered  to  them  ;  and  that 
the  consuls,  on  the  first  of  January,  should  move  the  senate 
farther  to  consider  of  the  rewards  that  were  due  to  the 
army,  for  the  faithful  services  which  they  had  rendered  to 
the  commonwealth.  These  public  propositions  he  blended 
with  a  continual  and  vehement  invective  against  Antony. 
He  obtained  decrees  of  the  senate  to  the  several  effects  he 
had  proposed. 

In  the  mean  time,  Antony,  being  arrived  on  the  frontier 
of  Gaul,  despatched  an  officer  to  Decimus  Brutus,  with  an 
order  to  evacuate  the  province,  and  having  exchanged  re- 
peated messages  on  tin?  subject,  continued  his  march  into 
the  province,  and  forced  Brutus,  with  two  legions  and 
some  new  levies,  that  were  under  his  command,  to  throw 
himself  into  Mutina,  where  he  had  formed  some  magazines 
from  the  stores  and  provisions  he  was  able  to  collect  in  the 
neighbourhood. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  in  the  end  of  December, 
about  ten  months  after  the  death  of  Cesar.*  On  the  first  of 
January,  the  consuls  Pansa  and  Hirtius,  being  to  enter  on 
the  exercise  of  their  office,  proceeded  to  the  senate  i'roin 
the  temple,  where  they  had  offered  the  usual  sacrifices;  and 
agreeably  to  the  order  of  the  nineteenth  of  December, 
moved  this  assembly  to  take  under  consideration  the 
present  state  of  the  republic.  Pansa  having  stated  the  sub- 
ject, called  upon  his  father-in-law,  Q.  Fusius  Calenua 
to  deliver  his  opinion.  This  senator  advised,  that  they 
should  not  rashly  take  any  violent  resolution;  that  they 
should  send  a  deputation  to  the  late  consul,  with  instruc- 
tions from  the  senate  to  lay  down  his  arms,  and  to  return 
to  his  duty.  This  motion  was  vehemently  opposed  by 
Cicero,  who  in  a  speech  still  extant,  insisted  that  Antony 
was  already  in  effect  declared  an  enemy,  and  ought  to  be 
reduced  by  force,  not  gained  by  negotiation  and  treaty.  L. 
Piso,  with  a  considerable  party  in  the  senate,  inclined  to 
moderate  the  resolutions  that  wero  proposed  against 
Antony.  He  contended  that  no  Roman  citizen  could  be 
condemned  unheard ;  that  the  senate  could  do  no  more  than 
appoint  him  a  day  of  trial,  and  cite  him  to  answer  for  him- 
self. The  time  of  the  first  meeting  being  already  spent  in 

*  U.  C.  710. 

N  N 


446  HISTORY  OF  THE,  [B.  V. 

this  debate,  the  senate  adjourned ;  and  the  subject  being 
resumed  on  the  following-  day,  it  is  said  that  Fusius  Cale- 
nus,  with  a  torrent  of  abuse  and  reproach,  retorted  on 
Cicero  certain  invectives,  which,  on  the  preceding-  day,  he 
had  pronounced  against  Antony, 

The  debates  and  deliberations  occupied  several  days.  On 
coming  to  the  question,  the  majority  took,  as  is  common  on 
such  occasions,  a  middle  course  between  the  extremes  which 
were  pointed  out  to  them.  They  so  far  treated  Antony  as 
a  friend,  as  to  order  a  deputation  of  their  own  members 
to  attend  him  in  his  camp;  but  the  message  which  they 
sent  by  this  deputation,  sounded  more  like  a  declaration  of 
war,  than  an  overture  of  reconciliation  or  of  peace.  They 
commanded  him  not  to  disturb  in  his  government  Decimus 
Brutus,  whom  they  qualified  with  the  appellation  of  con- 
sul-elect ;  not  to  lay  siege  to  Mutina ;  not  to  lay  waste  the 
province  ;  not  to  make  any  levies  of  forces,  or  to  presume 
to  continue  in  arms  against  the  authority  of  the  senate. 

The  commissioners  were  received  with  affected  submission 
to  the  orders  of  the  senate ;  Antony  said  he  wished  to 
evacuate  the  province,  disband  his  army,  and  return  to  a 
private  station :  but  he  would  forget  the  past,  and  agree  to 
a  sincere  reconciliation,  provided  that  the  legions  then  under 
his  command,  with  his  cavalry  and  guards,  were  properly  re- 
warded and  accommodated  with  grants  of  land ;  that  the  acts 
taken  from  the  will  and  memoirs  of  his  late  colleague  should 
be  ratified ;  that  no  account  should  be  required  of  the  money 
which  he  had  taken  from  the  temple  of  Ops ;  that  a  general 
indemnity  should  pass  in  favour  of  all  his  adherents;  that 
his  act  relating  to  judicatures  should  not  be  repealed;  that 
upon  these  conditions  he  would  evacuate  the  Gallia  Togata, 
but  retain  the  Comata,  with  six  legions,  to  be  completed 
with  draughts  from  the  troops  now  under  Decimus  Brutus. 

The  deputies,  who  had  been  employed  on  this  unsuccessful 
business,  incurred  much  public  censure.  It  was  unworthy 
of  them,  it  was  said,  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  a  rebel, 
who  refused  to  comply  with  the  orders  that  were  sent  to 
him.  Under  this  sense  of  the  matter,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
senate,  it  was  moved,  that  war  should  be  declared  against 
Antony,  and  that  every  senator  should  assume  the  military 
habit.  This  motion  was  agreed  to  even  by  Lucius  Cesar, 
uncle  to  Antony ;  a  decree  was  framed  upon  it,  and  passed 
without  opposition,  by  which  the  army  under  his  command 
were  required  by  a  certain  day  to  lay  down  their  arms. 

Upon  this  resolution,  obtained  by  those  who  strove  for 
the  preservation  of  the  commonwealth,  great  rejoicings 
were  made  over  all  Italy,  and  it  did  not  then  appear  from 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  447 

whence  any  real  danger  could  arise  to  the  authority  of  laws 
which  were  so  properly  supported.  The  consuls,  it  was 
observed,  acted  with  great  vigour ;  the  senate,  the  middling 
tlass,  and  the  citizens  in  general,  expressed  great  zeal.  The 
people  crowded  to  have  their  names  enrolled  in  the  levies 
Uiat  were  ordered.  The  reputation  -which  Cicero  gained  in 
bringing  public  affairs  into  this  situation,  set  him  at  the  head 
/>f  the  commonwealth. 

The  conduct  of  the  war  was  committed  to  the  consuls, 
»nd,  jointly  with  them,  to  Octavius,  in  the  capacity  of  pro. 
jretor.  Orders  were  likewise  despatched  to  Lepidus  and 
lo  Plancus,  to  co-operate  with  these  officers.  The  first  was 
jet  on  his  march  into  Spain,  through  the  province  of  Nar- 
Vonne ;  the  other  was  posted  on  the  Rhone.  In  the  mean 
iime,  Octavius,  without  waiting  for  the  authority  witli 
which  the  senate  had  lately  invested  him,  had  followed 
Antony  across  the  Apennines,  and  taken  post  with  his  army 
it  the  Forum  Cornelii,  on  the  road  from  Ariminum  to 
Mutina.  The  messages  which  passed  between  the  senate 
%nd  Antony,  as  well  as  the  delays  which  the  consuls,  under 
flie  pretence  of  winter,  made  in  advancing  with  their  forces, 
%  ave  him  some  degree  of  uneasiness.  Pansa  was  employed  at 
Rome  in  conducting  the  new  levies.  Hirtius,  though 
destined  to  take  the  field,  and  to  join  Octavius,  was  still 
detained  by  indisposition.  Antony  continued  the  siege  of 
Mutina  without  interruption. 

Octavius,  after  having  sent  many  pressing  messages  to 
hasten  the  march  of  the  consul,  was  at  last  joined  by  him  at 
the  Forum  Cornelii,  and  they  advanced  together ;  forced 
posts  which  Antony  had  established  at  Claterna  and  Bononia, 
and  encamped  at  the  latter  of  these  places.  Here  they  were 
itill  separated  by  the  Rhenus  and  Lavinius  from  the  army 
*f  Antony,  which  covered  the  siege  of  Mutina,  and  were 
precluded  from  any  communication  with  the  town.  They 
succeeded,  however,  to  give  notice  of  tb^ir  approach  to  the 
ISesieged ;  upon  which  Brutus  was  confirmed  in  his  resolution 
i/  defending  the  place  to  the  last  extremity. 

The  senate,  notwithstanding  that  they  considered  the 
preservation  of  the  republic  as  the  common  cause  of  all  those 
tvho  could  hope  to  partake  in  its  honours,  and  believed  that 
fthe  present  consuls,  Hirtius  and  Pansa,  were  sincerely  em- 
barked in  its  cause  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  confidence 
•they  placed  in  Octavius  as  opposed  to  Antony,  they  still 
relied  chiefly  on  those  who  had  taken  an  active  part  against 
t\.e  late  usurpation  of  Cesar,  and  looked  to  Brutus  and 
r«ssius  for  a  principal  support  against  the  remains  of  that 
«  ititary  far  turn  On  this  account,  they  had  annulled  the 


448  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

proceedings  of  Antony  relating  to  the  distribution  of  the 
eastern  provinces,  reinstated  Marcus  Brutus  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Macedonia,  and  Cassius  in  that  of  Syria ;  and  by 
these  appointments  placed  the  whole  resources  of  thecom- 
momvealtlu  from  the  Hadriatic  to  the  utmost  boundary  of 
the  empire,  under  their  authority. 

Marcus  Brutus  and  Cassius  had  left  Italy  in  the  preced- 
ing autumn.  Brutus,  having  embarked  at  Elea,  sailed  into 
Greece,  where  he  was  received  with  every  mark  of  respect. 
And  afterwards,  on  entering  his  province. and  presenting 
the  order  of  the  senate  to  put  him  in  possession  of  it,  the 
greater  part  of  it,  then  under  the  command  of  Hortensius, 
acknowledged  his  authority.  Cassius,  at  the  same  time,  had 
gone  with  the  utmost  despatch  into  Syria,  to  prevent  Dola- 
bella,  who  Avas  sent  by  the  opposite  party  to  take  possession 
of  that  province. 

At  his  arrival  the  forces  of  Syria  were  divided,  and  the 
opposite  parties  had  actually  committed  hostilities  against 
each  other.  There  were  in  this  province,  engaged  on  op- 
posite sides,  no  less  than  eight  legions.  Upon  the  arrival  of 
Cassius,  two  legions,  which  favoured  the  republican  party, 
declared  for  him;  and  soon  after  the  other  six,  moved 
by  the  authority  of  his  commission  from  the  senate,  or 
gained  by  his  personal  character  and  address,  followed  this 
example.  Four  more  legions,  who,  intending  to  join  Dola- 
bella,  were  marching  from  Egypt  through  Palestine,  were 
Intercepted,  and  forced  to  receive  his  orders  as  governor  o. 
Syria.  His  army,  by  these  different  accessions,  amounted 
to  twelve  legions. 

Upon  the  first  suspicion  that  Brutus  and  Cassius  intended 
to  possess  themselves  of  these  important  provinces,  Dola- 
bella,  to  whom,  by  the  influence  of  Antony,  the  command 
in  Syria  had  been  assigned,  set  out  from  Rome,  and  with  all 
possible  diligence  continued  his  route  to  the  east.  In  pass- 
ing through  the  province  of  Asia,  he  had  an  interview  at 
Smyrna  with  Trebonius,  professed  a  friendship  for  him,  and 
put  him  off  his  guard,  surprised  the  city  of  Smyrna,  sei/ed 
on  the  person  of  the  governor,  and,  with  many  insults,  put 
him  to  the  torture,  and  strangled  him. 

This  murder,  being  committed  on  the  person  of  a  Roman 
officer,  within  the  very  province  in  which  he  was  appointed 
to  command,  raised  a  general  indignation.  Dolabella  Avas 
declared  a  public  enemy  by  the  senate,  and  the  conduct  of 
the  Avar  against  liim  Avas  committed  to  Caius  Cassius. 

Thus  the  names  of  Avar,  which  Avere  already  lighted  in 
Italy,  began  to  extend,  and  Avere  soon  communicated  to 
every  part  of  the  empire.  The  opposite  armies  beforn 


CH.  111.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  449 

Mutina  continued  during1  the  winter  to  observe  each  other, 
and  in  thei/-  attempts  to  {five  or  to  withhold  relief  from  the 
besieged,  had  frequent  skirmishes  and  partial  engagements. 
The  chief  direction  of  att'airs  at  Rome,  in  the  mean  time, 
had  devolved  on  Cicero,  who  incited  the  senate  and  the 
people,  with  all  the  powers  of  his  eloquence,  against  An- 
tony. The  soldiers  in  general,  with  their  officers,  wer« 
notwithstanding  inclined  to  favour  this  declared  enemy  of 
the  commonwealth.  Ventidius  in  particular,  who  professed 
to  range  himself  under  Octavius,  was  in  reality  warmly 
attached  to  his  rival ;  and,  in  order  to  serve  him,  formed  a 
design  to  surprise  Cicero  and  the  other  heads  of  the  re- 
publican party ;  but  the  persons  against  whom  it  was 
directed  having-  taken  the  alarm,  and  withdrawn  to  places 
of  safety,  he  turned  aside  to  Piceimm,  and  there  waited  the 
issue  of  the  campaign. 

The  senate,  during  the  dependance  of  these  operations, 
as  in  full  possession  of  the  republic,  devised  laws,  to  pre- 
vent for  the  future  those  abuses  which  had  given  rise  to 
the  present  disorders.  They  resolved  that  no  extraordi- 
nary commission  of  any  kind  should  be  given  to  any  single 
person,  or  any  provincial  appointment  prolonged  beyond  a 
year.  While  they  were  thus  employed,  separate  addresses 
were  presented  to  them  from  Lepidus  and  from  Planeus, 
warmly  recommending  an  accommodation  with  Antony. 
The  consul  Pansa,  too,  proposed  a  fresh  deputation  to  him 
with  overtures  of  peace,  and  his  party  in  the  senate  insid- 
iously oft'ered  to  devolve  the  honour  of  this  deputation 
upon  Cicero  himself,  who  rejected  the  offer,  with  proper 
animadversion  on  the  danger  to  which  his  life  must  be  ex- 
posed in  the  camp  of  liis  enemy.  Wliile  this  measure  was 
in  agitation,  Hirtius  and  Oetavius  appear  to  have  sent  a 
joint  message  to  Antony,  informing  him  of  what  had  been 
proposed  in  the  senate,  and  desiring  a  cessation  of  arms, 
with  liberty  to  convey  some  supply  to  the  garrison  of 
Mutina,  until  the  event  of  the  senate's  deliberations  should 
tee  known.  Antony  replied  iu  terms  calculated  to  insinuate 
himself  into  the  favour  of  the  late  Cesar's  party,  and  to 
gain  the  affection  of  the  army;  but  full  of  reproach  and 
contumely  against  those  who  pretended  to  espouse  the 
cause  of  the  commonwealth,  and  against  the  authors  of 
the  present  councils  at  Home. 

Antony,  iu  all  his  discourses,  affected  to  be  in  good  un- 
derstanding with  Lepidus  and  with  Planeus,  who,  he  in- 
timated, were  in  concert  with  himself,  and  embarked  iu 
the  same  cause.  But  whatever  secret  correspondence 
these  offk'ertt  may  have  held  together,  they  mid  Pollio 


450  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

likewise  professed  the  highest  duty  to  the  senate,  and  affec- 
tion to  the  commonwealth.  While  the  party  of  the  senate 
appeared  to  gain  such  accessions  of  strength  by  the  declar- 
ation of  so  many  military  officers  in  the  different  provinces, 
Decimus  Brutus  was  reduced  to  great  straits  at  Mutina ; 
and  waited,  under  many  circumstances  of  distress,  for  the 
opening1  of  a  campaign,  in  which  he  expected  that  his  own 
fate,  ana  that  of  the  republic,  might  soon  be  determined. 
On  the  approach  of  the  proper  season,  the  consul  Pansa, 
with  the  levies  he  had  made,  amounting  to  four  legions* 
inarched  towards  Gaul,  and  being  arrived  at  Bononia,  was 
about  to  have  joined  his  colleague,  who  had  taken  post 
with  Octavius  to  observe,  and  to  impede  the  progress  of 
the  siege.  Antony,  at  the  same  time,  having  intelligence 
of  their  route,  marched  in  the  night  with  two  chosen  le- 
gions, two  pretorian  cohorts,  being  veteran  and  experienced 
troops,  with  a  numerous  body  of  irregulars  and  horse.  He 
took  post  at  a  village,  and  posting  the  horse  and  irregulars, 
in  open  view  in  the  field,  at  some  distance  from  the  village, 
he  placed  the  legions  and  regular  infantry  in,  ambuscade 
under  the  cover  of  the  houses. 

When  Pansa's  army,  led  by  a  detachment  which  Hirtius 
had  sent  to  receive  them,  came  in  sight  of  Antony's  horse 
and  irregulars,  they  could  not  be  restrained  until  the  pos- 
ture and  strength  of  the  enemy  were  examined.  .  They 
broke  from  their  ranks,  and  rushed  through  a  defile  in  a 
wood  or  morass  to  intercept  the  enemy,  who  appeared  to 
consist  of  horse  and  light  infantry  alone  ;  when  as  the  fore- 
most of  them  were  passing  in  the  most  disorderly  man- 
ner from  this  defile,  in  pursuit  of  their  supposed  prey, 
Antony,  with  the  legions,  placed  himself  in  their  way,  and 
forced  them  to  fly  with  great  slaughter.  Pansa  himself 
was  dangerously  wounded,  and  his  army  obliged  to  take 
refuge  in  the  camp  from  which  they  had  marched  in  the 
morning.  Hirtius,  however,  having  intelligence  of  the 
movement  he  had  made,  though  too  late  to  prevent  its 
effects,  had  left  his  camp  with  twenty  cohorts  of  veterans, 
arrived  at  the  village,  and  was  in  possession  of  the  very 
ground  on  which  Pansa  had  been  defeated,  when  Antony, 
returning  from  the  pursuit  of  his  victory,  fell,  in  his  turn, 
into  the  same  snare  which  he  himself,  a  few  hours  before, 
had  so  successfully  laid  for  his  enemy,  was  accordingly 
surprised  and  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and  with  the 
loss  of  the  eagles  or  standards  of  both  the  legions,  and  of 
sixty  ensigns  of  the  cohorts.  Hirtius  and  Octavius  follow- 
ed  this  piece  of  success  by  making  a  feint  to  throw  Succours 
into  Mutina  on  a  side  which  the  besiegers  liad  deemed  in- 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  451 

accessible,  and  which,  on  this  account,  they  had  but  slightly 
guarded.  Antony,  alarmed  by  this  attempt  to  render abor 
'tive  all  the  labours  he  had  sustained  in  the  preceding 
blockade,  dre\v  forth  his  array  to  oppose  them.  While  he 
\vas  making  his  disposition  to  receive  the  enemy  in  the 
field,  his  lines  were  attacked  by  a  sally  from  the  town, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  divide  his  forces.  He  himself, 
with  that  part  of  his  army  which  remained  with  him 
to  make  head  against  Ilirtius  and  Octavius,  was  defeat- 
ed, fled  to  his  camp,  and,  being  pursued  thither,  continued 
to  give  way,  until  the  action  ended  by  the  death  of  the 
consul  Hirtius,  who,  after  he  had  forced  the  intrenchments 
of  the  enemy,  was  killed,  and  fell  near  to  the  head- 
quarters of  their  general. 

Upon  this  event,  Octavius,  not  having  the  qualities  of  a 
soldier  which  were  necessary  to  replace  the  consul,  suffered 
the  victorious  army,  thus  checked  by  the  loss  of  their 
commander,  to  be  driven  back  from  the  ground  they  had 
gained,  and  left  Antony  again  in  possession  of  his  works. 
The  vanquished  party,  however,  feeling  all  the  effects  of  a 
defeat,  and  not  being  in  condition  to  continue  the  siege, 
decamped  in  the  night.  At  break  of  day,  Decimus  Brutus 
observed  that  the  lines  of  the  besiegers  seemed  to  be 
evacuated,  yet,  as  he  had  no  intelligence  from  the  camp, 
he  remained  all  that  day  in  suspense.  Even  after  he  had 
received  information  of  the  various  events  of  the  action, 
and  of  the  consul's  death,  he  was  obliged  to  remain  inactive, 
while  the  enemy  continued  their  retreat  undisturbed. 

On  the  second  day  after  the  battle,  Decimus  Brutus, 
%eing  sent  for  by  Fansa  to  Bononia,  to  concert  the  future 
operations  of  the  war,  learned  on  his  way,  that  this  consul 
was  dead  of  his  wounds. 

At  tlus  time  Antony  was  on  his  march  to  the  coast  of 
Liguria,  which  he  continued  till  he  reached  the  fens  of 
Sabatta.  Here  the  country  being  of  difficult  access  he 
thought  himself  secure,  and  made  a  halt,  to  consider  of  his 
future  operations.  At  the  same  time  Ventidius,  who,  upon 
the  news  of  the  defeat  of  his  friend  at  Mutina,  had  passed 
the  Apennines  by  hasty  marches,  followed  and  joined  him 
at  this  place. 

In  the  first  accounts  of  Antony's  defeat  that  were  carried 
to  Rome,  it  was  reported,  that  his  army  had  been  entirely 
routed,  whereupon  the  senate  were  greatly  elated;  and, 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  ordered  a  feast  of 
thanksgiving,  which  was  to  last  for  sixty  days.  The  com- 
monwealth likewise  being  deprived  of  its  legal  head  by 
the  death  of  both  the  consuls,  Decimus  Brutus,  as  next  in. 


452  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

succession,  according-  to  the  arrangement  which  had  been 
made  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  being  supposed  .most  deeply 
interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  republic,  was  thr 
person  on  whom  the  senate  conferred  the  command  of  ?,L 
their  forces  in  Italy  and  Gaul.  They  thus  seemed  to  drop 
at  once  the  high  regard  which  they  had  hitherto  paid  to 
Octavius,  and  to  overlook  his  pretensions  and  his  influence 
over  the  army.  Pretending  to  have  his  eyes  opened  by 
this  conduct  of  the  senate,  Octavius  refused  to  co-operate 
with  Decimus  Brutus  in  pursuing  the  late  victory  against 
Antony,  and  had  influence  enough  with  different  bodies  of 
the  army,  particularly  with  the  fourth  legion  and  the  Mar- 
tia,  to  hinder  their  obeying  the  orders  they  had  received 
from  Rome. 

Even  there  Brutus  was,  from  this  time  forward,  ill  sup- 
ported :  all  motions  made  in  his  favour  being  opposed  by  the 
party  of  Octavius,  as  well  as  by  that  of  Antony.  The  troops 
that  adhered  to  him  amounted  to  seven  legions  ;  these  he 
subsisted  by  such  resources  as  he  himself  could  command. 
He  advanced  towards  the  encampment  of  Antony,  till,  with- 
in thirty  miles  of  the  enemy,  he  received  intelligence  that 
Antony,  in  a  speech  to  his  army,  had  declared  his  intention 
to  pass  the  Alps,  and  to  cast  himself  entirely  on  the  friend- 
ship of  Lepidus,  in  whose  disposition  he  professed  to  have 
great  confidence.  This  intelligence  was  followed  by  ac- 
counts that  the  enemy  already  undertook  this  difficult 
march  so  ill  provided  with  every  necessary,  that  they  had 
no  subsistence  but  what  was  found  on  the  route,  consisting 
chiefly  of  wild  herbs,  fruits,  and  animals  not  commonly  used^ 
for  human  food. 

Lepidus,  in  consequence  of  the  senate's  instructions,  or  of 
his  own  desire  to  be  at  hand  to  take  such  measures  as  the 
state  of  the  war  in  Italy  might  require,  had  discontinued 
the  march  of  his  army  into  Spain,  and  returning  had  passed 
the  Rhone  and  taken  a  station  not  far  from  the  coast  at 
the  Forum  Vocontium.  In  the  mean  time  Antony  had 
passed  the  Alps,  and  in  the  middle  of  May  arrived  with  the 
first  division  of  his  army  at  Forum  Julii,  four-and-twenty 
miles  from  the  station  of  Lepidus.  Ventidius  having  fol- 
lowed about  two  days'  march  in  the  rear  of  Antony,  and 
having  again  joined  him  at  this  place,  their  forces  consisted 
of  the  second  legion  entire,  with  a  considerable  number 
of  men,  but  without  arms ;  the  broken  remains  of  many 
legions,  together  with  a  body  of  cavalry. 

The  armies  of  Antony  and  Lepidus  at  lengtU  came  in 
right  of  each  other,  and  frequent  messages  passed  between 
the  leaders;  and  as  no  hostilities  were  committed,  the 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  453 

soldiers  conversed  freely  together,  though  without  any  ap- 
parent effect.  Lepidus  still  professed  to  govern  himself  by 
the  orders  of  the  senate,  and  to  employ  his  army  in  support 
of  the  commonwealth.  But  while  he  preserved  these 
appearances,  he  secretly  corrupted  his  own  troops  till  they 
proceeded  to  invite  Antony  into  their  camp,  and  presenting 
him  to  their  general  as  a  friend,  terminated  the  war  between 
them  by  a  coalition.  Antony  was  now  joined  with  Lepidus 
in  the  command  of  the  army  which  had  come  to  oppose 
him,  and  by  his  popularity,  or  superior  ability,  soon  got  the 
ascendant  of  his  colleague.  He  found  himself  again  at  the 
head  of  a  great  force,  composed  of  the  remains  of  his  late 
defeat,  three  legions  that  had  joined  him  under  Ventidiua, 
and  seven,  of  which  the  army  of  Lepidus  consisted. 

Lepidus,  even  after  the  reception  of  Antony  into  his  camp, 
addressed  the  senate  in  a  solemn  declaration,  still  asserting 
his  affection  to  the  commonwealth,  and  representing  the  late 
change  of  his  measures  as  the  effect  of  necessity  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  troops,  who,  in  a  mutinous  manner,  refused 
to  make  war  on  their  fellow  citizens.  At  the  same  time 
despatches  arrived  from  Plancus  and  Decimus  Brutus,  both 
treating  the  pretended  mutiny  of  the  army  in  Gaul  as  a 
mere  artifice  of  their  general  to  conceal  his  own  defection. 
The  city  was  greatly  alarmed,  and  the  senators,  incensed 
at  his  treachery,  sent  private  instructions  to  Marcus  Brutus, 
and  to  Caius  Cassius,  urging  them  to  hasten  the  march  of 
their  forces  for  the  defence  of  the  capital. 

During  these  transactions,  Octavius  remained  inactive 
on  the  frontiers  of  Italy.  The  demise  of  the  two  consuls 
opened  a  new  scene  to  his  ambition.  This  event  came  so 
opportunely  for  his  purpose,  and  his  own  character  for  in- 
trigue was  so  much  established,  that  he  was  suspected  of 
having  had  an  active  part  in  procuring  the  death  of  those 
officers.  He  himself  gave  out,  that  Pansa,  when  dying  of 
his  wounds,  desired  to  see  him  in  private,  gave  him  a  view 
of  the  state  of  parties,  and  advised  him  no  longer  to  remain 
the  tool  of  those  who  meant  only  to  demolish  the  party  of 
Cesar,  in  order  that  they  themselves  might  rise  on  its  ruins. 
The  commonwealth  undoubtedly  sustained  a  great  Joss  in 
the  death  of  the  two  consuls.  If  they  had  lived  even  with 
such  abilities  as  they  possessed,  they  might  have  kept 
Lepidus  within  the  bounds  of  his  duty,  they  might  have 
prevented  Antony  from  recovering  the  defeat  which  he  had 
lately  received  at  Mutina,  and  obliged  Octavius,  if  not  to 
drop  his  ambitious  designs,  at  least  to  defer  the  execution 
of  them  to  a  more  distant  period.  ]{ut  immediately  after 
the  death  of  these  magistrates,  it  became  evident,  that  tins 


454  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V, 

young  man  was  determined  not  to  take  any  part  in  the 
farther  operations  of  the  campaign. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  senate  deferred  the  elections,  and 
appointed  ten  commissioners  under  pretence  of  inquiring 
into  the  abuses  committed  in  Antony's  administration,  and 
of  distributing  to  the  army  the  gratuities,  and  of  executing 
the  settlements  devised  for  their  late  services,  but  proba- 
bly with  a  real  intention  to  vest  these  commissioners  with 
the  chief  direction  of  affairs,  until  it  could  be  determined 
who  should  succeed  in  the  office  of  consul,  and  who  should 
be  intrusted  with  the  safety  of  the  republic.  There  was 
felt,  however,  a  necessity  of  paying  a  little  more  attention 
than  had  lately  been  done  to  the  interest  of  Octavius.  In- 
stead of  appointing  him  to  act  under  Decimus  Brutus,  as 
they  at  first  intended,  the  senate  joined  him  in  the  command 
of  the  army ;  and  in  this  new  situation,  required  him  to 
co-operate  in  defending  Italy  against  the  united  forces  of 
Antony  and  Lepidus. 

Octavius  instantly  communicated  to  the  army  these  orders 
of  the  senate,  with  insinuations  of  the  hardships  which 
they  were  now  to  undergo  on  being  sent  on  a  fresh  service, 
before  they  had  received  the  rewards  which  were  promised 
and  due  to  them  for  the  former;  and  he  proposed,  that 
they  should  send  deputies  to  the  senate  with  proper  repre- 
sentations on  this  subject.  A  number  of  centurions  were 
accordingly  selected  to  carry  the  mandate  of  the  army  to 
Rome. 

While  the  senate  delayed  giving  any  direct  answer  to 
this  military  demand,  they  again  sent  a  deputation  of  their 
own  members  with  money  to  be  distributed  by  themselves 
to  the  legions.  But  Octavius  being  secretly  apprised  that 
a  sum  of  money  was  sent  to  corrupt  his  army,  march- 
ed directly  to  Rome;  and  on  his  way  being  met  by  the 
deputies  of  the  senate,  he  commanded  them,  at  their  peril, 
not  to  approach  the  army,  or  to  interrupt  its  march.  Upon 
the  news  of  his  approach,  the  city  was  thrown  into  great 
consternation.  The  senate,  believing  that  they  had  erred 
in  ottering  too  little  money  to  the  troops,  ordered  the  for- 
mer bounty  to  be  doubled.  They  resolved  that  Octavius 
should  be  admitted  to  the  consulate,  be  pretor  at  the  first 
elections,  and  consul  at  the  following. 

Soon  after  this  deputation,  despatched  from  the  senate  to 
intimate  these  resolutions,  was  gone,  two  legions,  lately 
transported  from  Africa,  and  ordered  for  the  defence  of 
the  city,  having  arrived  at  the  gates,  the  senators,  with 
their  party  among  the  people,  resumed  their  courage ;  they 
were  even  disposed  to  recall  their  late  concessions,  and 


C«.  HI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  455 

began  to  exclaim,  that  it  wore  better  to  perish  in  defending 
their  liberties,  than,  without  any  struggle,  to  fall  a  prey  to 
their  enemies.  Persons  of  every  description  assumed  the 
military  dress,  and  ran  to  arms ;  and  there  being  now  at 
Rome  three  legions,  with  a  thousand  horse,  the  city  was 
put  into  a  posture  of  defence.  As  the  army  drew  near, 
however,  all  the  approaches  were  deserted  by  those  who 
had  been  placed  to  defend  them,  and  the  advanced  guard  of 
Octavius  passed  to  the  Mons  Qnirinalis,  without  being  met 
by  any  person  in  the  quality  either  of  friend  or  of  enemy 
But,  after  a  little  pause,  numbers  of  his  own  party  among 
the  people  having-  gone  forth  to  receive  him,  the  streets 
were  instantly  crowded  with  persons  of  all  ranks,  who 
hastened  to  pay  their  court;  the  troops  who  had  been  as- 
sembled to  oppose  him,  at  the  same  time  leaving  their 
stations,  and  making  an  oiler  of  their  services. 

Octavius  did  not  suffer  any  acts  of  cruelty  to  be  commit- 
ted, or  make  any  inquiry  after  those  who  had  been  forward 
in  opposing  hia  claims.  He  affected  the  clemency  of  his 
late  uncle  ,  but  like  him  too,  without  any  scruple,  laid  his 
hands  on  the  public  treasure,  made  a  distribution  to  the 
army  of  the  sums  which  had  been  first  decreed  to  them  ; 
and  engaged  for  himself,  soon  after,  to  add  from  his  own 
estate  what  had  been  successively  promised.  Having  or- 
dered that  the  election  of  consuls  should  immediately  pro- 
ceed, and  being  himself  elected,  together  with  Q.  Pedius, 
he  walked  in  solemn  procession  to  offer  the  sacrifices 
usual  on  such  occasions,  and  entered  on  his  office  on  the 
twenty-first  of  September,  the  day  before  he  completed  his 
twentieth  year. 

In  the  same  spirit  of  servility  with  which  so  many  hon- 
ours had  been  decreed  to  Julius  Cesar,  it  was  enacted,  that 
Octavius  should  for  ever  take  rank  of  every  consul,  and 
the  command  of  every  general,  at  the  head  of  his  own 
army ;  that  he  should  have  an  unlimited  commission  to 
levy  troops,  and  to  employ  them  where  the  necessities  of 
the  state  might  require ;  that  his  adoption  into  the  family 
jf  Cesar  should  be  ratified,  and  an  inquest  set  on  foot  for 
the  trial  of  those  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  death  of 
Julius  Cesar. 


456  HISTORY  OF  THE  £B.  V. 


CHAP.  IV. 

Proceedingt  of  the  ntte  Contul  — State  of  the  Eattern  Province*— Inter- 
view of  Octavius.  Antony,  and  Lepidut,  with  their  Coalition— The 
Proscription  or  Massacre— Death  of  Cicero  -Sequel  of  the  Massacre— 
Succession  of  Consult — Severe  Exaction  of  Taxes -State  of  Sextui 
Pompeiut— Movement*  of  Antony  and  Octavius  respectively— Both 
bend  their  course  to  the  East  Posture  and  operations  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius— Their  arrival  and  progress  in  Europe  — Campaign  at  Philippi 
—First  Action  and  Death  of  Cassius— Second  Action  and  Death  oj 
Brutus. 

THE  republic,  of  which  Octavius  was  now,  in  appearance, 
the  legal  magistrate,  had  declared  open  war  against  Antony 
and  Lepidas ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this  declaration,  the 
forces  of  Decimus  Brutus  and  of  Plancus,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned, had  advanced  to  the  Rhone  and  the  Isere,  but  had 
been  obliged  again  to  retreat,  in  order  to  avoid  coming-  to 
action  with  a  superior  enemy.  It  was  considered,  there- 
fore, as  the  first  object  of  the  consul  to  reinforce  that  army 
of  the  republic,  and  to  carry  the  decrees  of  the  senate  into 
execution  against  those  who  presumed  to  dispute  their 
authority.  He  accordingly  marched  from  the  city  as  upon 
this  design ;  but  it  soon  after  appeared,  that  he  had  been 
some  time  in  correspondence  with  these  supposed  enemies  of 
their  country ;  that  he  intended  to  join  them  against  the 
senate,  and  with  their  forces  united,  to  resist  the  storm 
which  was  gathering  against  them  in  the  east,  under  the 
governors  of  Macedonia  and  Syria. 

While  the  siege  of  Mutina  was  still  in  dependence,  Mar- 
cus Brutus  had  drawn  his  forces  towards  the  coast  of 
Epirus,  with  intention  to  pass  into  Italy ;  but  having  re- 
ceived a  report  that  Dolabella,  then  in  the  province  of  Asia, 
liad  transported  a  body  of  men  from  thence  to  the  Cherso- 
nesus,  and  that  he  seemed  to  intend  the  invasion  of  Mace- 
donia, he  was  obliged  to  return  for  the  defence  of  his  own 
province  ;  and  from  thenceforward,  by  the  state  of  the 
war  in  Syria  was  hindered,  during  some  time,  from  taking 
my  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  west.  Doiabella's  operations 
began  in  that  quarter  with  his  receiving  a  great  check  to 
his  hopes  in  the  defeat  of  his  fleet ;  his  galleys  having  been 
diapersed,  and  all  his  transports  taken  by  Leutulus,  who 
had  served  under  Trebonius,  and  who  now  commanded 
the  fleets  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  those  seas.  Notwith- 
itanding  this  defeat,  he  advanced  by  land  into  Cilicia ;  and 
while  his  antagonist  lay  in  Palestine,  to  intercept  the 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  457 

legions  that  were  coming  to  join  him  from  Egypt,  he  made 
considerable  levies,  took  possession  of  Tarsus,  and  then  of 
Laodicea,  where  he  was  determined  upon  making  a  stand. 
This  retreat  was  speedily  blocked  up  and  besieged  by 
Cassius,  and  in  a  fe\v  weeks  fell  into  his  hands.  Dolabella, 
on  finding  that  the  town  was  delivered  up,  chose  to  fall  by 
the  sword  of  one  his  own  men ;  and  the  troops  who  hafl 
served  under  him  acknowledged  the  authority  of  his  riva1 
and  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  usual  in  ranging  themselvet 
under  a  new  general. 

Octavius,  soon  after  his  nomination  to  the  office  of  lon- 
sul,  under  pretence  of  urging  the  war  against  Antony  and 
Lepidus,  took  his  departure  from  Rome,  leaving  his  col- 
league Pedius  in  the  administration  of  the  city.  To  him 
he  had  given  instructions  to  obtain,  as  of  his  own  accord, 
the  revocation  of  the  acts  by  which  Antony  and  Lepidus 
had  been  declared  public  enemies;  and  the  senate  pro- 
ceeded to  revoke  their  former  decree  of  attainder  against 
these  traitors. 

As  soon  as  the  state  of  parties  wa?  thus  transformed, 
Octavius  congratulated  the  senate  on  the  wisdom  of  their 
measures,  and  from  thenceforward  treated  with  Antony 
and  Lepidus  as  friends,  Plancus  withdrew  his  forces  from 
the  army  of  Decimus  Brutus,  and  Pollio  afterwards  fol- 
lowed his  example.  Thus  the  republican  commander  was 
left  singly  to  withstand  the  force  of  so  many  enemies  who 
were  united,  and  now  supported  against  him  with  the 
authority  of  the  state  itself,  He  still  had  ten  legions ;  but 
did  not  think  himself  in  condition  to  continue  the  war 
against  so  many  enemies ;  and  determined  to  withdraw  by 
Illyricum  into  Macedonia,  and  to  join  himself  with  the 
forces  which  were  raised  for  the  republic  in  that  province. 
On  pretence  of  the  hardships  of  the  proposed  march,  he 
was  deserted  first  by  the  new  levies,  and  afterwards  by  the 
veterans,  with  all  the  irregulars  who,  except  a  few  Gaulish 
Horse,  went  over  with  their  colours  to  the  enemy.  In  pro- 
portion as  difficulties  multiplied  on  his  way,  the  little  troop 
which  attended  him  also  gradually  diminished;  when  ho 
disguised  himself,  and  returned  to  Aquileia;  but  being 
there  seized  as  a  suspicious  person,  he  was  by  the  orders  of 
Antony  put  to  death. 

Thus,  while  all  the  military  powers  of  the  east  were  as-  . 
sembled  under  Marcus  Brutus  and  Cassius,  with  a  professed 
design  to  restore  the  republic,  those  of  the  west  were 
equally  united  for  a  contrary  purpose.  Antony  and  Lepi- 
dus having  passed  the  Alps,  descended  the  Po,  and  ad- 
vanced towards  Mutina.  Octavius  being  already  in  that 


458  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

neighbourhood  ^  ith  his  army,  they  met  with  five  legions 
of  each  side,  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Lavinus,  not  far 
from  the  scene  of  their  late  hostile  operations  against  each 
other.  The  leaders  held  a  conference  in  a  small  island 
formed  by  the  separation  and  re -union  of  t\vo  branches  of 
the  river,  while  the  armies  dre\v  up  on  the  opposite  banks. 
They  continued  their  conference  for  three  daysj  and  at 
the  expiration  of  this  time  made  known  to  their  armies, 
that  they  had  agreed  on  the  following  articles :  that  Octa- 
vius,  in  order  to  divest  himself  of  every  legal  advantage 
over  his  associates,  shor.id  resign  the  consulate;  that  the 
three  military  leaders,  then  upon  an  equal  footing,  shou\« 
hold  or  share  among^  them,  during  five  years,  the  supreme 
administration  of  affairs  in  the  empire ;  that  they  should 
name  all  the  officers  of  state,  magistrates,  and  governors  of 
provinces;  that  Octavius  should  have  the  exclusive  com- 
mand in  Italy,  Africa,  Sardinia,  and  Sicily,  Lepidus  in 
Spain,  and  Antony  in  Gaul ;  that  Lepidus  should  be  substi- 
tuted for  Decimus  Brutus,  in  the  succession  to  the  consu- 
late for  the  following  year,  and  should  have  the  administra- 
tion at  Rome,  while  Octavius  and  Antony  pursued  the  war 
against  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the  Eaat ;  that  the  army,  at 
the  end  of  the  war,  should  have  settlements  assigned  to 
them  in  the  richest  districts  and  best  situations  of  Italy. 
Among  the  last  were  specified  Capua,  Rhegiura,  Venusia, 
Beneventum,  Nuceria,  Ariminum,  and  Vibona.  To  ratify 
this  agreement,  the  daughter  of  Fulvia,  the  wife  of  Antony, 
by  Clodius  her  former  husband,  was  betrothed  to  Octavius. 
While  the  army  was  amused  by  the  publication  of  these 
several  articles,  the  circumstance  which  chiefly  distin- 
guished this  famous  coalition,  was  the  secret  resolution, 
then  taken,  to  extinguish  at  once  all  future  opposition  to 
the  Cesarian  party,  by  massacring  all  their  private  and  pub- 
V;  enemies.  They  drew  up  a  list  comprehending  all  those 
tvho  had  given  them  private  or  public  offence,  amounting 
.n  all  to  three  hundred  senators  and  t\vo  thousand  of  the 
equestrian  order,  besides  many  persons  of  inferior  note, 
whose  names  they  deferred  entering  in  the  list  until  their 
arrival  at  Rome.  They  ratified  the  whole  by  mutual  oaths ; 
and  having  published  all  the  articles,  except  that  which  re- 
a  lated  to  the  massacre,  the  plan  of  reconciliation  between 
the  leaders  was  received  by  the  armies  with  shouts  of  ap- 
plause, and  was  supposed  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  period  in 
which  military  men  were  to  rest  from  their  labours,  and 
to  enjoy  undisturbed  the  most  ample'rewarl  of  their  ser- 
vices. 
Tliis  celebrated  cabal,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Second 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  459 

Triumvirate,  having-  thus  planned  the  division  or  joint  ad- 
ministration of  an  empire  which  each  of  them  hoped  in  time 
to  engross  for  himself,  they  proceeded  to  Rome  with  an 
aspect  which,  to  those  who  composed  the  civil  establish- 
ment of  the  commonwealth,  was  more  terrible  than  that  of 
any  faction  which  had  been  liitherto  formed  for  its  destruc- 
tion. 

Lepidus,  noted  for  his  want  of  capacity,  being  in  the  rank 
of  pretor  when  Cesar  took  possession  of  Rome,  and  being1 
the  only  Roman  officer  of  state  who  was  willing  to  prosti- 
tute the  dignity  of  his  station,  by  abetting  the  violent 
which  was  now  done  to  the  constitution,  was  entrusted 
witli  powor,  and  the  command  of  an  army,  merely  because 
he  brought  the  name  and  authority  of  a  magistrate  to  the 
side  of  the  usurpation. 

Antony,  possessed  of  parts  which  were  known  chiefly  by 
the  profligate  u»e  which  he  made  of  them,  seeking  to  repair 
by  rapine  a  patrimony  which  he  had  wasted  in  debauch ; 
and  sometimes  strenuous  when  pressed  by  necessity,  yet 
ever  relapsing  in  every  moment  of  ease  or  relaxation  into 
the  vilest  debauchery  or  dissipation. 

Octavius,  yet  a  boy,  only  known  by  acts  of  perfidy  and 
cunning  above  his  years ;  equally  indifferent  to  friendship 
or  enmity,  apparently  defective  in  personal  courage,  but 
followed  by  the  remains  of  Cesar's  army,  as  having  a  com- 
mon cause  with  themselves  in  securing  the  advantages 
which  they  severally  claimed  by  virtue  of  his  authority. 
He  was  now  about  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age,  had  been 
already  two  years  at  the  head  of  a  faction,  veering  in  his 
professions  and  in  his  conduct  with  every  turn  of  fortune. 
He  had  already,  in  the  transactions  of  so  short  a  life,  given 
indications  of  all  the  vilest  qualities  incident  to  human 
nature,  perfidy,  cowardice,  and  cruelty ;  but  with  an  ability 
or  cunning  which,  if  suffered  to  continue  its  operations, 
\vas  likely  to  prevail  in  the  contest  for  superiority  with  his 
•>resent  rivals  in  the  empire. 

Such  was  the  received  description  of  persons  who  had 
now  parcelled  among  themselves  the  government  of  the 
vvorld,  and  whose  vices  were  exaggerated  by  the  fours  of 
those  who  were  likely  to  suffer  by  the  effects  of  their 
power.  Under  the  dominion  of  such  a  junto,  if  any  one 
w«re  left  to  regret  the  loss  of  public  liberty,  or  to  feel  the 
state  of  degradation  into  which  citizens  were  fallen ;  if  any 
one  could  look  forward  from  the  terrors  of  a  present 
tyranny  to  the  prospect  of  future  evils ;  to  them  surely  a 
scene  of  expectation  was  opening  the  most  gloomy  that 
ever  had  presented  itself  to  mankiud  in  human  affairs, 


460  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

however,  the  prospect,  whether  good  or  bad  in  extreme,  \ 
seldom  verified  by  the  end;  and  human  nature,  when 
seemingly  driving  to  the  wildest  excess,  after  a  series  oi 
events  and  struggles,  settles  at  hist  in  some  sort  of  medio- 
crity, beyond  which  it  never  is  pushed  but  by  occasional 
starts  and  sallies. 

The  triumvirs  being  on  their  way  to  Rome,  their  order* 
for  the  immediate  execution  of  seventeen  of  the  principa 
senators  had  been  received  before  their  arrival,  and  severa 
were  accordingly  surprised  and  murdered  in  their  houses^ 
or  in  the  streets.  Pedius,  the  consul,  continued  all  night  in 
the  streets,  endeavouring  to  prevent  the  calamity  of  a 
general  fire.  On  the  following  night,  he  died  of  the  fatigue 
he  had  incurred  on  this  occasion,  and  the  public  assurances 
he  had  given  were  attended  with  no  effect.  The  triumvirs 
marched  separately  towards  the  city,  and  made  their  entry 
on  three  several  days.  As  they  arrived  in  succession,  they 
occupied  every  quarter  with  guards  and  attendants,  and 
filled  every  public  place  with  armed  men,  and  with  military 
standards  and  ensigns.  In  order  to  ratify  the  powers  they 
had  devised  for  themselves,  they  got  the  articles  of  their 
agreement  enacted  in  the  public  assembly  of  the  Roman 
people  ;  and  put  in  the  form  of  a  legal  commission. 

As  the  first  act  of  this  government,  two  lists  of  proscriptions 
were  delivered  to  the  proper  officers  of  the  army,  and  posted 
in  different  parts  of  the  city ;  one  a  list  of  senators,  the  other 
a  list  of  persons  of  inferior  rank,  on  whom  the  troops  were 
directed  to  perform  immediate  execution.  Inconsequence 
of  these  orders,  all  the  streets,  temples,  and  private  houses, 
instantly  became  scenes  of  blood.  At  the  same  time,  there 
appeared  on  the  part  of  the  triumvirs  a  manifesto,  in  which 
having  stated  the  ingratitude  of  many  whom  Cesar  had 
spared,  of  many  whom  he  had  promoted  to  high  office,  and 
whom  he  had  even  destined  to  inherit  his  fortunes,  and  who, 
nevertheless,  conspired  against  his  life,  they  alleged  the 
necessity  they  were  under  of  preventing  the  designs  of  their 
enemies,  and  of  extirpating  a  dangerous  faction,  whom  no 
benefits  could  bid,  and  whom  no  considerations,  sacred  01 
profane,  could  restrain. 

There  were  killed  ,  in  the  beginning  of  this  massacre, 
oalvius,  one  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  together  with 
Miuucius  and  Annalis,  both  in  the  office  of  pretors.  Silicius 
Coronas,  a  person  of  considerable  note,  now  also  perished. 
The  son  of  Hosidius  Geta  saved  his  father  by  giving  out 
that  he  was  already  killed,  and  by  actually  performing  a 
funeral  in  his  name.  The  son  of  Quintus  Cicero,  persevered 
in  the  concealment  of  his  father,  notwithstanding  that  tho 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPLBLIC.  401 

torture  was  applied  to  force  a  discovery,  until  the  father, 
who  was  within  hearing  of  what  was  in  agitation,  burst 
from  his  concealment  and  was  thereupon  slain  together  with 
his  son. 

Marcus  Cicero  having1  got  safe  to  Circeii ;  and  being1  un- 
able to  take  any  resolution  whatever,  he  committed  him- 
self to  his  attendants,  was  carried  on  board  of  a  vessel,  and 
steered  for  Capua.  Near  to  this  place,  having1  a  villa  on 
the  shore,  he  again  landed,  and  being  fatigued  with  the 
motion  of  the  sea,  went  to  rest,  when  an  officer,  with  his 
party,  arrived,  and  finding  the  gates  of  the  court  and  the 
passages  of  the  villa  shut  burst  them  open  ;  but  missing  the 
person  they  sought  for,  they  made  their  way  through  an 
avenue  that  led  to  the  shore,  and  came  in  sight  of  Cicero's 
litter,  before  he  hud  left  the  walks  of  his  own  garden.  On 
the  appearance  of  tl.e  party,  Cicero  ordered  the  bearers  of 
his  litter  to  halt,  and  appeared  to  be  determined  and 
calm.  Upon  the  approach  of  the  murderers  he  put  forth  his 
head  from  the  litter,  and  fixed  his  eyes  on  them  with  great 
composure.  The  countenance  of  a  man  so  well  known  to 
every  Roman,  now  worn  out  with  fatigue  and  dejection, 
and  disfigured  by  neglect  of  the  usual  attention  to  his  person, 
made  a  moving  spectacle  even  to  those  who  came  to  assist 
in  the  tragic  scene.  They  turned  a\vay,  while  the  assassin 
performed  his  office,  and  severed  hit  head  from  his  body. 

Thus  perished  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero,  in  the  sixty-fourth 
year  of  his  age.  He  appears  to  have  been  the  last  of  the 
Romans,  who  rose  to  the  highest  offices  of  state  by  the  force 
of  his  personal  character,  and  by  the  fair  arts  of  a  republican 
candidate  for  public  honours.  Me  is  universally  acknow- 
ledged, by  his  proficiency  in  oratory  to  have  greatly  excelled 
all  those  who  went  before  him,  so  much  as  to  have  attained 
the  highest  preferments  in  the  commonwealth,  without  hav- 
ing quitted  the  gown,  and  to  have  made  his  first  campaign 
in  the  capacity  of  Roman  proconsul,  above  ten  years  after 
he  had  already  exercised  the  supreme  executive  power  in 
the  state. 

Whether  we  suppose  him  to  have  been  governed  by 
original  vanity,  or  by  a  habit  of  considering  the  world  as  a 
theatre  for  the  display  of  his  taleuts,  and  the  acquisition  of 
fame,  more  than  as  a  scene  of  real  affairs,  he  was  certainly 
too  fond  of  applause,  he  courted  it  as  a  principal  object 
even  in  the  fairest  transactions  of  his  life,  and  was  too  much 
dependent  on  the  opinion  of  other  men  to  possess  himself 
sufficiently  amidst  the  difficulties  which  occur  in  the  very 
arduous  situation  which  1V11  to  his  lot.  Being,  towards  the 
eud  of  his  life,  by  the  almost  total  extirpation  of  the  more 
O  o 


4/52  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

respectable  citizens  and  members  of  the  senate  who  had 
laboured  with  him  for  the  preservation  of  the  common 
wealth,  left  in  a  situation  which  required  the  abilities  at 
great  warrior,  as  well  as  those  of  the  ablest  statesmen,  aria 
in  which  even  such  abilities  could  not  have  stemmed  the 
torrent  which  burst  forth  to  overwhelm  the  republic,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  he  failed  in  the  attempt. 

In  this  horrid  scene  of  revenge  and  cruelty,  rapacity  too 
had  its  share ;  many  persons  were  proscribed,  merely  that 
their  estates  might  be  brought  into  the  coffers  of  the  trium- 
virs ;  and  many  persons  were  threatened,  to  induce  them  tw 
ransom  their  lives  with  money.  The  list  received  frequent 
additions,  and  underwent  many  alterations,  some  names 
being  scratched  out,  and  others  inserted,  a  circumstance,  by 
which  persons  of  any  considerable  property,  as  well  as  those 
who  were  obnoxious  to  any  of  the  persons  in  power,  were 
kept  in  the  most  anxious  state  of  suspense  and  uncertainty. 
Many  who  were  spared  by  the  public  usurpers  of  govern- 
ment, fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  resentment  of  their  private 
enemies,  or  to  the  avarice  of  who  those  wished  to  possess 
themselves  of  their  property.  The  triumvirs,  whose  principal 
object  it  was  to  secure  the  government,  though  no  ways  in- 
terested in  these  extreme  disorders,  which  far  exceeded 
what  they  originally  projected,  not  daring  to  restrain  the 
military  violence,  lest  it  should  recoil  on  themselves,  left  for 
some  time  the  lives,  as  well  as  the  properties  of  the  people, 
entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  troops ;  and  citizens,  who  were 
reputed  to  have  any  effects  in  reserve,  were  fain  to  adopt 
some  soldier  as  a  son,  in  order  to  obtain  his  protection  for 
their  lives  and  property. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  Italy  ;  but  there  were 
still  some  rays  of  hope,  which  shone  from  a  distance.  Not 
only  Brutus  and  Cassius,  in  their  provinces  of  Macedonia 
and  Syria ;  but  Cornificius  in  Africa,  and  Sextus  Pompeius 
in  Sicily,  still  held  up  the  standard  of  the  republic,  and  offered 
places  of  refuge  to  its  friends.  Sextus  Fompeius  stationed 
thips  on  the  coast  to  receive  them,  and  published  rewards 
fjr  their  rescue  or  protection. 

Lepidus  and  Plancus  being  entered  on  the  office  of  con- 
tul,  had  in  charge,  as  the  first  object  of  their  magistracy,  the 
laising  of  money  to  supply  the  further  exigencies  of  tho 
war.*  Great  sums  had  been  expected  to  arise  from  the 
sale  of  the  estates  of  the  proscribed ;  but  the  purchase  of 
such  estates  was  justly  reckoned  invidious  among  a  certain 
class  of  the  people  ;  and  the  money  which  arose  from  these 

*  U.  (X7ii. 


IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  463 

Kales,  fell  greatly  short  of  the  expectations  which  had  been 
entertained  from  them. 

It  was  computed,  that  two  hundred  millions,  Roman 
money,  were  yet  wanting-  to  supply  the  expenses  of  the 
war.  To  make  up  this  deficiency,  the  male  sex  chiefly 
having  hitherto  suffered  by  the  public  exactions,  a  contri- 
bution was  levied  from  such  women  related  to  the  oppo- 
site party  as  were  supposed  to  be  rich.  At  the  same  time 
persons  of  every  description,  whose  estates  exceeded  one 
hundred  thousand,*  Roman  money,  were  commanded  to  give 
an  account  of  their  effects,  that  they  might  pay  a  tax  equal 
to  a  fiftieth  of  their  stock,  and  one  year's  income  of  their 
ordinary  revenue.  Additional  exactions  were  also  made, 
under  the  denomination  of  fines  or  forfeitures,  from  those 
who  were  alleged  to  have  given  in  a  false  state  of  their 
effects. 

Agreeably  to  the  model  of  Julius  Cesar's  arrangements, 
preparatory  to  his  intended  expedition  into  Asia,  the  trium- 
virs, before  the  departure  of  Octavius  and  Antony  on 
tl.e  service  to  which  they  were  destined,  fixed  the  succes- 
sion to  all  the  offices  of  state  for  some  years.  They  had 
under  their  command  an  army  of  forty  legions,  which  they 
now  separated  into  two  divisions.  The  one,  under  the 
direction  of  Antony,  was  assembled  on  the  eastern  coast  to 
be  in  readiness  to  cover  Italy  on  that  side,  or  to  pass  into 
Macedonia,  and  to  carry  the  war  against  Brutus  and  Cassius 
iuto  that  province.  The  other  was  destined  to  remain  in 
Italy,  in  order  to  secure  the  head  of  the  empire,  and  oppose 
any  attempts  of  the  opposite  party  by  sea  from  Sicily  or 
Africa,  which  were  still  in  their  possession. 

Brutus  and  Cassius  had  assembled  their  forces  on  the 
right  of  the  Meander,  when  they  heard  that  Antony  had 
transported  a  part  of  his  troops  into  Epirus.  Without 
delay  they  began  to  move  towards  Europe,  in  order  to 
check  the  advances  which  the  enemy  were  already  making. 
Having  passed  the  Hellespont,  they  marched,  by  the  isthmus 
of  Cardia,  to  the  coast  of  the  bay  of  Melanus ;  here  they 
made  a  halt  for  some,  days,  to  muster  and  to  review  their 
forces.  The  army  of  Cassius  consisted  of  nine  legions,  that 
of  Brutus  of  eight,  amounting  to  about  eighty  thousand 
men,  formed  in  the  manner  of  the  Roman  infantry.  Brutus 
had  four  thousand  Gaulish  and  Lusitauian  horse;  two 
thousand  cavalry,  made  up  of  Thracians,  Illyrians,  Par- 
thian s,  and  Thessalians  Cassius  had  two  thousand  Gauls 
lud  Spaniards,  and  four  thousand  Parthian  archers  mount- 

•  About  eight  thousand  pounds. 


464  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

ed  on  horseback.  They  were  followed  likewise  by  some 
princes  of  Galatia,  at  the  head  of  their  respective  forces. 
The  whole,  by  this  account,  amounted  to  near  a  hundred 
thousand  men.  Many  of  the  legions  had  been  formed  under 
Cesar,  and  could  not  be  retained  in  their  present  service 
without  frequent  liberalities,  and  without  a  prospect,  at  the 
end  of  the  war,  of  settlements,  not  inferior  to  those  which 
ivere  enjoyed  or  expected  by  the  troops  of  the  opposite 
side.  The  wealth  of  Asia,  however,  having-  put  their 
le  aders  in  condition  to  perform,  what  was  at  present  ex- 
pected from  them  ;  all  former  engagements  were  now 
fulfilled,  as  the  best  earnest  that  could  be  given  of  future 
gratuities. 

After  mustering  all  their  strength,  the  republican  leaders 
again  began  to  advance ;  and  while  the  army  marched  in 
small  divisions  by  the  route  of  Enos  and  Doriscus,  Cimber, 
with  a  squadron  of  galleys,  having  a  legion  and  a  consider- 
able detachment  of  archers  on  board,  sailed  towards  the 
coast  of  Macedonia,  with  orders  to  search  for  a  proper  sta- 
tion within  the  mountains  of  Pangeus,  a  ridge  which, 
stretching  from  Thrace  southward,  terminated  in  the  bay 
of  Strymon,  opposite  to  the  island  of  Thasus.  The  generals, 
upon  their  arrival  on  the  river  Nessus,  found  that  the  usual 
passage  of  the  mountains  at  Symbolus  was  already  seized 
by  Saxa  and  Norbanus,  who,  with  the  first  division  of 
Antony's  forces  from  Italy,  had  traversed  Macedonia,  and 
hastened  to  possess  themselves  of  this  pass,  in  order  to  stop 
the  further  progress  of  their  enemies  in  Europe.  The 
eastern  armies,  however,  penetrated  the  pass  by  a  different 
route  from  that  which  the  enemy  had  occupied,  and  having 
crossed  the  summit,  descended  in  the  track  of  a  river 
towards  Philippi,  situated  on  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
plains  of  Amphipolis.  Saxa  and  Norbanus,  on  perceiving 
this  movement,  abandoned  their  post,  fell  back  forty  or 
fifty  miles  to  Amphipolis  ;  and  having  put  this  place  in  the 
best  posture  they  could  for  defence,  determined  to  await 
Ihe  arrival  of  Octavius  and  Antony. 

Brutus  and  Cassius  took  post  at  Philippi,  on  the  declivity 
,*f  the  mountains,  near  to  the  pass  which  Saxa  and  Nor- 
banus had  lately  abandoned.  They  encamped  about  two 
miles  from  the  town  on  two  separate  eminences,  about  a 
mile  asunder.  On  their  right  was  Philippi,  covered  by  the 
mountains ;  on  the  left  an  impassable  marsh,  which  reached 
about  nine  miles  from  their  camp  to  the  sea.  In  their  front 
the  country  from  Phiiippi  westward  to  Amphipolis,  ex« 
tending  about  forty  or  fifty  miles,  was  flat  and  subject  to 
floods  and  inundations  of  the  rivers.  The  fleet  was  in  bar* 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  465 

bour  at  Neapolis,  near  where  the  marsh,  which  covered 
the  left  of  Cassius's  camp,  terminated  in  the  sea;  and 
Cimber  had  fixed  on  that  place  as  the  port  to  which  all  their 
convoys  should  repair. 

Antony  and  Octavius  having1  effected  their  passage,  not- 
withstanding the  vigilance  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  their  armj 
advanced  by  rapid  marches  to  the  river  Stryraon.  Octaviua 
had  been  taken  ill,  and  remained  behind  at  Dyrrachium. 
Antony,  upon  his  arrival  at  Amphipolis,  fixed  upon  it  as  a 
place  of  arms,  and  advanced  upon  the  flat  country,  through 
a  march  of  some  days,  and  pitched  in  sight  of  Philippi, 
within  a  mile  of  the  enemy's  stations.  Antony's  camp 
being  on  the  plain,  and  in  a  low  situation,  was  overlooked 
by  the  enemy,  and  subject  to  be  overflowed  by  the  torrents 
which  fell  from  the  hills.  He  made  every  possible  effort  to 
bring  his  antagonists  to  action,  and  by  his  forwardness  in 
pressing  them  to  a  battle,  raised  the  courage  of  his  own 
troops,  and  assumed,  as  is  common  with  those  who  act 
offensively,  the  appearance  of  superiority.  "While  he  yet 
continued  in  this  posture,  Octavius,  though  not  entirely 
recovered  from  his  illness,  joined  him  from  Dyrrachium. 
They  took  two  separate  stations  opposite  to  those  of  the 
enemy  ;  Octavius  opposite  to  Brutus,  and  Antony  to  Cas- 
sius.  The  number  of  legions,  on  both  sides,  were  equal ; 
but  those  of  Antony  and  Octavius  Avere  not  complete.  In 
cavalry  they  were  unequal;  that  of  Brutus  and  Cassius 
amounting  to  twenty  thousand,  while  that  of  Octavius  and 
Antony  was  no  more  than  thirteen  thousand. 

Antony  and  Octavius,  in  order  to  force  their  antagonists 
to  a  battle,  or  to  cut  off  their  communication  with  the  sea, 
pierced  the  morass,  and  seized  upon  the  heights  beyond  it 
on  the  left  of  Cassius's  camp.  As  soon  as  Brutus  and 
Cassius  perceived  this  advantage  gained  by  the  enemy,  they 
took  measures  to  recover  it,  and  to  open  their  own  access 
again  to  the  sea.  For  this  purpose  they,  in  their  turn, 
traversed  the  morass  in  a  line  which  crossed  the  passage 
which  the  enemy  had  made,  and  pierced  their  highway  with 
«,  deep  and  impassable  ditch.  Having  in  this  manner  cut 
»tf  the  enemy's  parties  that  had  passed  the  morass  from 
any  succours  or  supplies  from  their  main  body,  they  were 
nbout  to  force  them,  when  Octavius  and  Antony  endeav- 
oured to  recover  their  passage  ;  and  to  divert  the  attention 
of  the  enemy  from  what  they  were  doing  in  the  marsh, 
drew  forth  their  armies  on  the  plain. 

While  Octavius  was  still  confined  by  sickness,  his  lieu- 
tenant, or  next  in  command,  took  his  place  in  this  move* 
meat,  and  advanced  toward  the  tatrenchment  of  Brutwi, 


466  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

The  light  troops  began  to  skirmish,  and  were  joined  by  th« 
legionaries  of  Brutus,  who,  without  orders,  quitted  theii 
lines,  attacked  the  wing  on  which  Octavius  was  supposed 
to  command,  drove  them  back  to  their  ground,  and  continu- 
ing their  pursuit,  even  forced  them  in  their  camp.  Octavius 
himself,  having  been  carried  from  his  bed  to  a  litter,  nar- 
rowly escaped  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands. 

On  the  other  wing,  Antony  likewise  had  advanced 
towards  the  camp  of  Cassius  ;  but  as  he  was  observed,  at 
the  same  time,  beginning  to  work  in  the  morass,  this 
movement  of  his  army  was  considered  as  no  more  than  a 
feint  to  favour  the  other  design.  Cassius  to  divert  him 
from  his  operation  in  the  marsh,  drew  forth  his  army 
likewise ;  when  Antony,  seeing-  Cassius  expose  his  front, 
mounted  the  height  in  his  presence,  forced  him  to  retire, 
and  even  took  and  pillaged  his  camp.  These  separate  ac- 
tions, or  the  preparations  which  were  made  for  them,  had 
filled  up  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  It  was  already  dusk, 
and  the  field,  for  the  most  part,  was  covered  with  clouds  of 
dust ;  so  that  no  one  could  see  to  a  distance.  Those  who 
commanded  on  the  right  in  both  armies,  having  put  those 
who  were  opposed  to  them  to  flight,  thought  that  the  event 
was  decisive  in  their  own  favour.  But  Brutus  and  Antony 
being  informed  of  what  had  passed  on  the  other  wings  of 
their  respective  armies,  neither  attempted  to  keep  the 
advantage  he  had  gained.  Disqualified  by  fatigue  or  sur- 
prise from  renewing  the  contest,  they  passed  each  other  on 
the  plain,  and  hastened  back  to  their  former  stations. 

Cassius,  after  the  rout  of  his  division,  with  a  few  who 
adhered  to  him,  had  halted  on  an  eminence,  where  being 
met  by  a  party  of  horse  sent  by  Brutus  to  learn  the  situa- 
tion of  his  friends  on  the  left,  and  supposing  them  to  be 
enemies,  instantly,  with  the  precipitant  despair,  which,  on 
other  occasions,  had  proved  so  fatal  to  the  cause  of  the 
republic,  presented  his  breast  to  a  slave,  and  was  slain. 
The  surviving  leader  of  the  republican  party,  spent  the 
night  in  re-assembling  the  troops  who  had  been  dispersed, 
formed  both  armies  into  one  body,  and  drew  the  whole  into 
one  camp.  He  still  kept  his  ground  at  Philippi,  and  endea- 
voured to  support  the  courage  of  the  troops,  and  to  replace 
the  activity  and  military  skill  of  his  unfortunate  colleague. 

Antony  and  Octavius  dre\v  forth  their  army  for  many 
days  successively,  and  were  greatly  embarrassed  with  the 
resolution  which  appeared  to  be  taken  by  the  enemy,  not 
to  hazard  a  battle.  They  began  to  suffer  greatly  for  want 
of  provisions,  and  felt  the  approach  of  winter,  which,  in  a 
marshy  situation,  threatened  them  with  growing  iuconva- 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  467 

niences.  Brutus,  to  hasten  the  effects  of  the  season,  had 
turned  the  course  of  a  river  from  the  hills,  and  laid  under 
water  part  of  the  plain  on  which  they  encamped.  At  the 
same  time  a  recent  calamity,  which  befell  them  at  sea,  in- 
creased these  distresses,  and  diminished  their  hopes  of 
relief.  On  the  same  day  on  which  the  late  battle  was 
fought  at  Fhilippi,  Domitius  Calvinus  had  sailed  from 
Brundusium,  having  onboard  of  transports  two  legions,  with 
*\vo  thousand  men  of  the  pretorian  bands,  and  a  body  of 
horse,  convoyed  by  some  galleys,  or  ships  of  force.  Being 
nii't  at  sea  by  the  fleet  of  Brutus,  consisting  of  a  hundred 
and  thirty  sail,  under  Mure  us  and  JEnobarbus,  a  few  of  the 
headmost  and  best  sailing  ships  escaped ;  but  the  remainder 
being  surrounded  were  sunk  or  destroyed.  Calvinus  him- 
self, having  been  five  days  at  sea,  with  difficulty  escaped  to 
Brundusium. 

These  tidings  had  their  effect  in  both  armies.  In  that  of 
Brutus  they  inspired  an  unseasonable  ardour,  and  a  dispo- 
sition to  commit  the  cause  of  the  party  to  the  hazard  of  a 
battle ;  in  that  of  Antony  and  Octavius,  they  impressed  the 
necessity  of  a  speedy  decision. 

The  troops  of  Brutus,  could  not  be  reconciled  to  his  dila- 
tory plan;  they  began  to  complain  that  a  victorious  army 
should  be  cooped  up  behind  intrenchments,  and  should  be 
insulted  like  women ;  even  the  officers,  pretending  to  rea- 
son on  the  state  of  the  war,  censured  their  general  for  losing 
the  opportunity,  which  so  great  an  ardour  in  the  army  gave 
him  of  deciding  the  contest  at  a  blow.  Brutus  was  aware 
that  the  army,  now  under  his  command,  having  been 
trained  up  as  mere  soldiers  of  fortune,  had  no  principle  of 
attachment  to  either  side ;  that  it  was  necessary  to  consult 
their  inclinations,  as  well  as  to  flatter  their  hopes.  In 
about  twenty  days  after  the  former  action,  overcome  by 
mere  importunities,  he  drew  forth  his  army  on  the  declivity 
before  his  camp ;  the  enemy,  at  the  same  time,  according  to 
their  usual  practice,  were  forming  upon  the  plain ;  and  both 
Bides  foresaw  the  approach  of  a  general  engagement. 

The  day  being  far  spent  in  preparing  for  battle,  and  noon 
about  three  hours  already  past,  the  trumpets  on  both  sides 
having  sounded  a  general  charge,  made  a  sudden  pause, 
and  sounded  again,  while  both  armies  being  in  motion,  ' 
struck  upon  their  bucklers,  advanced  with  a  mighty  shout, 
and,  under  a  shower  of  missile  weapons  of  every  sort, 
closed  with  their  swords.  They  continued  long  with  all 
the  fury  that  kindles  in  the  use  of  short  weapons,  to  strug- 
gle on  the  same  spot.  The  places  of  those  that  fell  in  the 
turat  rank  were  continually  supplied  from  the  ranks  behind 


468  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

them ;  and  the  place  of  action  began  to  be  choked  up  ^ith 
heaps  of  the  slain.  No  stratagem  is  said  to  have  been  prac- 
tised, or  any  accident  to  have  happened,  to  determine  the 
fate  of  the  day  on  either  side ;  but,  after  a  severe  contest, 
the  army  of  Brutus  began  to  give  way,  at  first  slowly,  and 
almost  insensibly  ;  but  being  pressed  with  growing  violence, 
they  were  thrown  into  some  confusion,  and  gave  up  the  day 
without  hopes  of  recovery.  In  the  disorder  that  followed, 
Octavius  advanced  to  the  enemy's  camp  to  secure,  or  to 
keep  in  awe  such  as  had  taken  refuge  within  it.  Antony 
pursued  such  as  were  dispersed  on  the  heights,  and  employ- 
ed parties  of  horse  all  night  to  scour  all  the  avenues  in 
search  of  prisoners. 

Brutus,  in  the  mean  time,  having  in  the  dark  passed  a 
brook  that  ran  between  steep  and  rocky  banks  covered 
with  word,  made  a  halt,  with  a  few  friends,  on  the  oppo- 
site side,  as  in  a  place  of  safety.  Being  yet  uncertain  of 
the  extent  of  his  loss,  he  sent  an  officer  to  observe  the  field, 
who  returned  with  an  alarm  that  the  enemy  were  upon  the 
opposite  bank ;  and  said,  with  some  agitation,  "  We  must 
fly."  "  Yes,"  replied  Brutus,  "  but  with  our  hands,  not 
with  our  feet."  He  then  took  leave  of  the  company  pre- 
sent, one  by  one,  and  soon  afterwards  presented  his  bosom 
to  one  of  his  slaves  and  was  slain  by  his  hand. 

Brutus  was  then  about  thirty-seven  or  forty  years  of  age. 
Next  to  Cato  he,  of  all  the  Romans,  was  supposed  to  have 
acted  from  the  purest  motives  of  public  virtue.  Cassius  had 
too  much  elevation  of  mind  to  endure  a  master ;  but  Brutus 
was  likewise  too  just  to  have  usurped  on  the  rights  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  even  if  they  had  been  in  his  power.  His 
character,  bowever,  in  some  respects,  is  questionable ;  and 
we  may  not,  through  the  disguise  of  manners  so  different 
from  our  own,  be  able  to  ascertain  the  truth.  Cicero,  who 
is  at  once  the  principal  author  of  his  fame  and  of  the  excep- 
tions which  are  taken  against  it,  charges  him  with  an  un- 
common degree  of  arrogance. 

That  part  of  the  vanquished  army  which  fled  to  the 
heights,  being  about  fourteen  thousand  men,  hearing  of  the 
death  of  the  last  of  their  leaders,  surrendered  themselves, 
and  were  equally  divided  between  Octavius  and  Antony. 
Those  who  remained  in  the  camp,  or  at  any  of  the  out-posts 
of  the  army,  likewise  laid  down  their  arms.  Of  the  per- 
sons of  rank  who  partook  in  the  wreck  of  their  party  at 
Philippi,  some  escaped  by  sea,  and  joined  Sextus  Pompeius 
in  Sicily,  now  the  sole  refuge  of  those  who  adhered  to  the 
commonwealth.  Others  killed  themselves,  or  in  the  late 
action  had  refused  quarter,  and  fought  till  they  were  slain- 


B.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  460 


CHAP.  V. 

Kftf  Partition  of  the  Empire  made  by  Octavius  and  Antony  —  Progress  of 
Oclaviiu  at  name— His  Friends  Maecenas  and  Agrippa  —Alarm  and 
Distress  in  Italy  on  the  Dispossession  of  the  Inhabitants  to  make  way  far 
the  Troopt  —  Jealousy  of  Fulvia  and  Lucius  Anlonius  -  llostilitiet  and 
Reduction  of  Perusia  -Progress  of  Antony  in  Asia -His  Slay  at  Alex- 
andria —  Keturn  to  Italy  -Accommodation  with  Sextus  I'ompeiui  — 
Keturn  o/  Octatius  and  Antony  to  Rome. 

BY  the  battles  which  had  been  fought  in  different  parts  of 
the  empire,  by  the  late  massacre  in  Italy,  and  by  the  event 
of  the  war  at  Philippi,  the  last  pillars  of  the  commonwealth 
seemed  to  be  removed,  or  but  a  few  of  its  members  were 
left  who  had  any  zeal  for  its  preservation.  Octavius  ana 
Antony,  upon  the  total  and  decisive  victory  they  had 
gained,  without  paying-  any  regard  to  the  pretensions  of 
Lepidus,  made  a  new  partition  of  the  empire.  Octavius,  to 
his  former  lot,  had  an  addition  of  Spain  and  Numidia ;  Au- 
tony  that  of  the  farther  Gaul  and  the  province  of  Africa. 
It  was  agreed  between  them,  that  Antony  should  prosecute 
the  remains  of  the  war  in  the  east,  and  that  Octavius  should 
return  into  Italy. 

When  accounts  of  the  final  action  at  Philippi  were 
received  in  the  city,  a  thanksgiving  was  ordered,  to  be 
continued  for  an  entire  year.  Octavius  gave  notice  to  the 
senate,  that  hi*  coining  was  delayed  by  sickness,  accepted 
the  decree  of  a  continued  thanksgiving  for  the  late  victory 
obtained  at  Philippi,  but  desired  it  might  be  understood, 
that  this  honour  was  conferred  on  account  of  the  exemplary 
justice  he  had  done  on  the  assassins  cf  his  father. 

About  this  time,  Octavius  was  known  to  have  in  his  ser- 
vice two  officers  of  distinguished  merit,  Marcus  Vipsanius 
.Agrippa  and  Caius  Cilnius  Maecenas;  botli  well  qualified  in 
their  respective  parts  to  support  him  in  the  pretensions  he 
had  formed  on  the  empire.* 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  young  Cesar  at  Rome,  he  gave 
assurance  to  the  senate  of  his  intention  to  avoid  all  mine- 
cessary  acts  of  severity.  But  the  first  object  of  his  admini- 
stration being  to  settle  the  veterans  on  the  possessions 
which  they  had  been  made  to  expert  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
a  general  order  was  signed  for  the  present  occupiers  of 
those  lands  to  remove.  This  was  done  without  any  pre 
tence  of  forfeiture,  or  delinquency  of  any  sort.  The  vie 

*  U.  C.  712. 
P   P 


470  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

tims  of  this  severity  repaired  to  Rome  in  entire  families; 
persons  of  every  sex,  age,  and  condition  crowded  the 
streets,  took  shelter  in  the  temples  and  other  places  of  pub- 
lic resort,  and  ftlle.l  the  city  with  complaints  and  lamenta- 
tions. 

The  army  no\v  considering-  the  lands  of  Italy  a?  their 
property,  looked  n.jon  every  person  inclined  to  protect  the 
ancient  inhabitants  as  their  enemy,  resented  every  delay 
that  was  made  in  gratifying  their  desires,  and  were  equally 
insolent  to  their  own  officers  as  they  were  to  the  people. 
The  cohorts  which  Octavius  retained  for  the  ordinary 
guard  of  his  own  person,  treated  him,  on  occasion,  with 
equal  disrespect.  In  these  dangerous  times,  enormities 
which  were  committed  by  disorderly  persons  of  any  descrip- 
tion being  imputed  to  the  soldiers,  were  suffered  to  pass 
with  impunity.  Robbery  and  murders  became  frequent, 
and  at  Rome  the  rent  of  houses  fell  to  a  fourth,  and  whole 
streets  appeared  to  be  deserted. 

In  this  distracted  scene,  nevertheless,  there  were  persona 
who  envied  Octavius  the  hateful  pre-eminence  which  he 
seemed  to  enjoy.  Among  these  ManSus,  the  person  in- 
trusted with  the  affairs  of  Mark  Antony,  Lucius  his  brother, 
now  in  the  office  of  consul,  and  Fulvia  iiis  wife,  aspiring  to 
a  share  of  the  government,  became  impatient  of  an  admin- 
istration from  which  they  thought  themselves  unfairly  ex- 
cluded. Here  persons  representing  the  absent  triumvir 
endeavoured  to  divide  the  party,  and  to  add  to  the  scene 
of  political  confusion  already  subsisting  a  breach  and 
opposition  of  interest  among  those  who  commanded  the 
army. 

Octavius,  greatly  provoked  by  the  attacks  which  were 
made  upon  him  by  the  representatives  of  Antony,  repudiated 
the  daughter  of  Fulvia,  whom,  at  the  formation  of  the 
triumvirate,  he  Imd  betrothed  merely  to  serve  a  political 
purpose.  Fulvia,  affecting  to  consider  this  insult  as  a  pre- 
lude to  greater  injuries,  appealed  to  Lepidus  in  behalf  of  his 
absent  colleague,  and  withdrew  to  Preneste,  where  she  fre- 
quently harangued  an  army  lying  there. 

In  these  hasty  advances  to  abrupture,  representations  to 
Antony,  and  preparations  for  war,  were  equally  made  on 
both  sides.  Octavius  being  in  possession  of  the  capital,  in 
order  that  he  might  appear  to  have,  not  only  the  authority 
of  government,  but  the  countenance  likewise  of  all  the  more 
respectable  citi/eus  of  Rome  on  his  side,  called  an  assembly 
of  the  senate,  at  which  he  invited  the  equestrian  order  to 
attend.  He  represented  to  this  assembly  the  calamities  that 
vere  now  impending  over  Italy  from  the  jealousy  wl  r«*t 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  471 

less  ambition  of  a  few  persons,  who  called  themselves  the 
friends  of  Mark  Antony,  and  he  exhorted  them  with  one 
accord  to  join  him  in  averting  these  evils.  He  accordingly 
obtained  a  deputation  to  be  sent  to  Preneste,  where  the 
heads  of  the  opposite  party  were  still  assembled,  to  remon 
strsite  against  their  procedure. 

An  expedient  was  proposed,  more  likely  to  prevent  thes« 
evils,  by  a  conference  to  be  held  by  the  military  officers  of 
the  opposite  sides.  Gabii  being  half  way  from  Preneste  to 
Rome,  was  fixed  upon  as  the  place  at  which  they  should 
meet ;  but  on  the  day  on  which  they  were  to  open  their  con- 
ference, parties  of  horse  having  been,  from  some  remains  of 
distrust,  without  any  concert,  sent  forward  on  both  sides  to 
escort  tlieir  deputies,  and  mutually  to  observe  each  other, 
they  met  unexpectedly  on  the  highway,  and  coming  to  blows, 
numbers  were  killed  or  wounded,  an«>  the  intended  conven- 
tion was  dropped. 

Each  of  the  parties,  in  consequence  of  this  accident,  pub- 
lished a  manifesto,  and  began  to  assemble  in  a  hostile  manner. 

Lepidus  declared  for  Octavius,  and  these  two  having  left 
the  city  together,  Lucius  Antonius  presented  himself  at  the 
gates,  and  was  admitted.  Having  assembled  the  people,  he 
declared  that  his  intention  was  to  restore  the  republic.  His 
brother,  he  said,  for  the  future  desired  no  illegal  powers, 
and  was  ready  to  join  in  calling  Octavius  and  Lepidus  to 
account  for  the  tyranny  they  had  lately  exercised  against 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Italy. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  event  of  this  contest  appeared  to 
depend  on  the  movements  that  were  making  on  the  side  of 
Spain  and  Gaul.  Salvidienus  being  on  his  march  to  join 
Octavius,  Asinius  and  Ventidius  hung  on  his  rear.  Agrippa, 
on  the  part  of  Cesar,  passed  the  Po  in  order  to  join  Salvidi- 
enus ;  and  having  succeeded  in  this  design,  they  obliged 
Asinius  and  Ventidius  to  remain  on  the  defensive,  expecting 
the  arrival  of  Lucius  Antonius,  who  was  on  his  march  to 
support  them. 

When  Antonius  came  to  a  pass  of  the  Apennines,  on  the 
Flaminian  way,  he  found  the  gorges  of  these  mountains 
already  occupied  by  Agrippa  and  Salvidienus;  not  attempt- 
ing to  force  them,  he  fell  back  to  Perusia,  where  he  was 
shut  up  during  the  autumn,  and  part  of  winter,  and  all  the 
efforts  of  Fulvia,  Asinius,  Ventidius,  and  Plancus,  to  succour 
him  being  ineffectual,  he  was  reduced,  from  want  of  pro- 
visions, to  the  greatest  extremities,  and  capitulated. 

Octavius  having  found  among  his  prisoners  some  of  the 
veterans  who  had  served  under  Cesar,  he  was  disposed  to 
have  ordered  them  all  to  bo  oxecutsd ;  but  observing  that  this 


472  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V, 

measure  was  extremely  offensive  to  his  own  array,  he  con- 
fined his  severities  to  the  Roman  citizens,  who,  he  pretended, 
had  on  this  occasion  acted  with  equal  animosity  to  the  army 
and  to  himself.  To  avenge  the  supposed  injury  that  wai 
done  to  the  army,  all  persons  of  the  civil  description,  found 
under  arms,  were  put  to  death. 

Before  the  breaking1  out  of  this  war  in  Italy,  Domitius 
Calvinus  and  Asinius  Pollio,  had  been  destined  consuls ;  and 
the  year  following-  that,  in  which  the  transactions  passed,  is 
accordingly  dated  or  inscribed  with  their  names.*  They  were 
prevented,  however,  by  this  breach  between  the  adherents 
of  Antony  and  of  Cesar,  from  taking  the  formal  possession 
of  their  office. 

While  the  relations  of  Antony  in  Italy  were  e"G[aged  in 
this  unfortunate  contest,  he  himself  had  passed  from  Greece 
through  Asia  into  Egypt,  where,  believing  all  his  difficulties 
were  at  an  end,  he  indulged  his  natural  disposition  to 
pleasure  and  dissipation.  At  Ephesus  he  had  assembled  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Asia,  and  raised  a 
contribution.  From  Ephesus,  he  travelled  by  the  coast 
towards  Syria,  laid  heavy  contributions,  disposed  of  lands 
and  country  seats,  of  which  he  made  gifts  to  his  retainers  and 
followers.  In  his  behaviour,  he  exhibited  that  dissipation 
and  extravagance,  to  which  he  ever  returned  in  the  mo- 
ments of  triumph  and  relaxation,  and  showed,  in  the  gayety 
and  festivity  of  his  court,  a  perfect  contrast  to  the  melan- 
choly with  which  the  inhabitants  of  every  province  were 
seized  on  his  approach.  He  had  probably  seen  Cleopatra  in 
Italy,  during  her  intimacy  with  Julius  Cesar;  and  now, 
supposing  himself  come  in  place  of  that  successful  adven- 
turer as  head  of  the  empire,  he  thought  of  this  prize  as  the 
reward  of  his  labours,  and  possibly  considered  her  as  the 
principal  object  of  his  journey  to  the  east.  Cleopatra  sailed 
to  Cilicia  with  a  splendid  retinue,  and  dazzled  the  Roman 
triumvir  with  the  profusion  of  her  ornaments,  the  elegance 
of  her  equipage,  and  the  charms  of  her  person.  She  was 
now  about  nine  and  twenty  years  of  age,  and  being  ac- 
quainted with  the  languages  and  manners  of  different  nations, 
particularly  instructed  in  the  literature  of  the  Greeks,  and 
being  in  the  maturity  of  wit  and  beauty,  she  joined  the  arts 
of  a  coquet,  with  all  the  accomplishments  which  became  the 
birth  and  the  high  condition  of  a  queen.  Being  invited  to 
sup  with  Antony,  she  pleaded  that  he  should  begin  with 
accepting  her  invitation.  At  their  first  entertainment, 
observing  that  his  raillery  savoured  of  the  camp,  she 

*  U.  C.713. 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  473 

humoured  him  in  this  manner,  and  even  surpassed  him  in 
the  freedom  of  her  conversation. 

From  thenceforward  Antony  laid  aside  all  business,  fol- 
lowed the  queen  of  Egypt  to  her  kingdom,  leaving  his  own 
provinces  exposed  to  an  enemy,  hy  whom  they  were  soon 
after  assailed  and  overrun ;  and  while  this  storm  wai 
raiding  in  the  east,  and  his  brother,  with  his  other  adherent* 
in  Italy,  were  struggling  for  his  share  in  the  government 
of  the  empire,  and  obliged  to  fly  or  submit  to  his  rival,  he 
passed  the  winter  at  Alexandria  in  frolic  and  dissipation. 

While  Octavius  was  strengthening  himself  in  Italy,  or  re- 
moving every  object  of  distrust  from  that  country,  Antony 
with  a  less  pacific  appearance  than  he  had  .hitherto  pre- 
served, set  out  for  Athens,  and  having  arrived  in  Greece, 
joined  his  fleet,  which  had  come  round  the  Peloponnesus, 
and  from  thence  sailed  with  two  hundred  galleys  for  the 
coast  of  Italy.  He  was  joined  by  Enobarbus  in  his  passage, 
and  steered  directly  for  Brundusium.  As  there  was  no 
declared  quarrel  betwixt  himself  and  Octavius,  he  expected 
to  be  admitted  into  this  port ;  but  being  disappointed  in 
this  expectation,  he  landed  at  some  distance  from  the  har- 
bour, and  invested  or  blocked  up  the  town  by  sea  and 
by  land.  Having  thus  committed  hostilities,  he  accepted 
the  alliance  of  Sextus  Pompeius  against  Octavius,  and 
proposed  to  him  to  make  a  descent  somewhere  on  the 
opposite  coast  of  Italy,  to  distract  the  forces  of  their 
common  enemy,  while  he  himself  continued  the  siege  of 
Brundusium. 

Sextus  Pompeius  accordingly  landed  at  Thurio,  in  the 
bay  of  Tarentum,  made  himself  master  of  that  place,  and  of 
the  country  from  thence  to  Consentia.  He  at  the  same 
time  sent  Menas,  one  of  his  admirals,  into  Sardinia,  who 
got  possession  of  that  island,  and  gained  to  his  party  two 
legions  that  were  stationed  there. 

Octavius  sent  Agrippa  to  oppose  Pompey,  while  he  him- 
self advanced  for  the  relief  of  Brundusium,  but  in  a  manner 
Which  confirmed  the  former  suspicions  of  his  personal 
jourage.  Being  taken  ill  on  the  march,  ho  stopped  short 
*t  Cauusium,  and  suffered  Brundusium  to  fall  into  tho 
hands  of  his  rival.  Agrippa  acted  with  more  vigour  ; 
pressed  upon  the  enemy  who  had  landed  near  Tarentum, 
obliged  them  to  abandon  their  conquests,  and  to  take  refuge 
in  their  ships. 

After  Antony  had  got  possession  of  Brundusium,  it  soon 
appeared  that  this  unprofitable  quarrel  was  equally  dis- 
agreeable to  the  armies  on  both  sides,  and  each  of  the  leaders, 
in  order  to  exculpate  himself  to  the  troops,  endeavoured  te 
U  R2 


474  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

load  his  antagonist  with  the  blame.  In  this  disposition  o 
the  parties,  accounts  were  received  of  the  death  of  Fulvia, 
an  event  which  greatly  facilitated  a  negotiation  for  peace, 
as  it  gave  hopes  of  cementing  the  alliance  of  parties  by  a 
family  connexion.  It  was  accordingly  proposed  that  the 
sister  of  Octavius,  and  the  widow  of  Marcellus,  should  be 
married  to  Antony:  and,  upon  this  basis,  a  treaty  was 
framed,  including  a  new  partition  of  the  empire,  by  which 
all  the  east,  from  the  Euphrates  to  Codropolis  on  the  coast 
of  Illyricutn,  was  assigned  to  Antony.  The  west,  from 
thence  to  the  ocean  and  the  British  channel,  was  assigned 
to  Octavius.  Italy,  as  the  seat  of  government  and  the 
principal  nursery  of  soldiers  for  the  supply  of  their  armies, 
was  to  be  equally  open  to  both.  Lepidus  was  suffered  to 
remain  in  the  possession  of  Africa.  Enobarbus  was  includ- 
ed in  this  treaty,  and  declared  at  peace  with  the  heads  of 
the  empire;  but  Sextus  Pompeius,  notwithstanding  hi* 
late  confederacy  with  Antony,  was  still  to  be  treated  as  an 
enemy.  He  was  to  be  opposed  by  Octavius,  while  a  war 
with  the  Parthians  was  supposed  sufficient  to  occupy  the 
forces  of  Antony. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  the  leaders  gave 
mutual  entertainments,  and  with  every  appearance  of  a 
perfect  reconciliation  set  out  for  Rome.  They  made 
their  entry  into  the  city  together,  on  horseback,  and  dressed 
in  triumphal  robes  ;  they  were  received  by  the  people,  of 
every  rank  and  condition,  with  demonstrations  of  joy, 
which,  under  the  sense  of  a  deliverance  from  the  prospect 
of  a  civil  war,  that  had  so  recently  threatened  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Italy,  was  very  general  and  very  sincere. 

The  pacific  appearances,  with  which  the  joint  sovereigns 
of  the  empire  made  their  entry  at  Rome,  were  confirmed 
by  the  actual  marriage  of  Antony  with  Octavia;  and  it 
was  expected,  that  the  late  rivals,  now  become  brothers,  by 
this  marriage,  were  to  govern  for  the  future,  with  much 
cordiality  and  mutual  confidence.  In  the  character  of  col- 
legiate sovereigns  they  passed  the  remainder  of  the  present 
year,  and  the  whole  of  the  following,  at  Rome,  with  great 
appearance  of  concord. 

Notwithstanding  these  flattering  appearances,  Italy  still 
suffered  under  the  distresses  of  a  war,  subsisting  with 
those  who  were  in  possession  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia.  Sex- 
tus Pompeius,  exasperated  by  the  treatment  he  had  received 
from  both  parties  in  the  late  quarrel  and  reconciliation,  and 
now  possessed  of  a  considerable  naval  force,  blocked  up 
the  ports  of  Italy,  and  prevented  the  usual  importation  of 
corn.  The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  were  reduced  to  erreat 


Cu.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  475 

distress.  Those  of  the  metropolis,  in  particular,  became 
rmtragcons,  and,  in  contempt  of  the  military  force  by  which 
they  were  governed,  rose  in  serious  tun.uita. 

It  became  necessary,  on  account  of  the  riots,  and  the 
(Crowing-  scarcity  of  bread,  to  open  a  negotiation  with 
Sextus  Pompeius,  as  the  speediest  means  of  relief  from 
the  present  .distress,  and  an  interview  was  proposed  be- 
tween the  parties,  to  be  held  at  Put«oJi  la  tha  bay  of 
Baiae.  This  interview  was  agreed  to,  end  took  plico  at  the 
time  and  place  proposed.  After  eeversi  conferences  had 
been  held,  it  was  agreed,  that  Pompsy  chculd  remain  in 
possession  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Coraicfc;  t&zttho  Pelo- 
ponnesus should  likewise  be  ceded  *„•>  Hia,  and  a  aum  of 
money  be  paid  in  compensation  for  cirvj  losses  of  his  family  ; 
that  all  the  exi'es:  now  under  his  uro-taction,  except  such 
as  were  concerned  in  the  death  of  Cesar,  ehonldbe  restored 
to  their  country,  and  to  a  fourth  part  of  their  former  estates ; 
that  the  navigation  or  the  seas  of  Itnl  7  should  be  free,  and 
vessels  immediately  suffered  to  pass  from  Sicily,  and  all  the 
neighbouring  countries,  which  were  accustomed  to  supply 
the  Italians  with  corn. 

Peace  being  thus  concluded,  a  lively  expression  of  satis- 
faction was  given  by  the  people  assembled,  as  well  as  by 
the  forces  of  the  respective  parties.  The  leaders  mutually 
treated  each  other  to  a  feast.  Sextus  Pompeius  afterwards 
set  sail  for  Sicily ;  the  collegiate  sovereigns  of  the  empire 
set  out  on  their  return  to  Rome  ;  and,  in  their  entry  to  the 
city,  passed  through  multitudes,  who,  on  the  present  oc- 
casion, grave  very  sincere  demonstrations  of  joy 


CHA1\  VI. 

Alarm  of  the  Parthian  Invasion  of  Syria— Arrangements  of  Octa'im 
and  Antony— Departure  of  the  latter,  and  Residence  at  Athent— State 
of  the  Commonwealth- Marriage  aj'  Octaritts  with  Una— War  with 
IJeziw  Pompeiut— Actions  near  the  Straits  of  Messina— Agrippa  suc- 
ceeds to  the  Command  of  Octaviui's  Ftrct  —  llis  f'iclory  at  Sea— Flight 
ofSsxtw  Fompfi'ja—Rreath  between  (.Marias  and  Lepidut* 

SUCH  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  Koine,  when  the  accounts 
which  hud  b*vn  sin  .-I's-ivciy  received  from  Syria,  made  the 
presence  of  Antony  appear  to  be  necessary  in  that  part  of 
the  empire  which  had  been  specially  committed  to  his  care. 
His  lieutenant,  Desidius  Saxa,  in  opposing  the  Parthian* 
had  received  a  defeat,  and  being  unable  to  brook  hie 


476  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

misfortune,  had  killed  himself.  In  consequence  of  this 
catastrophe,  the  province  of  Syria  was  overrun  by  the 
enemy. 

Upon  this  report,  Antony  sent  forward  Ventidius,  to 
collect  such  forces  as  yet  remained  in  the  province  of  Asia, 
and  to  give  some  present  check  to  the  immediate  progress 
of  the  Parthians,  while  he  himself  proposed  to  follow  ar. 
to  conduct  the  war  in  person.  Before  his  departure,  he 
obtained  from  the  senate  and  people  the  form  of  an  act  to 
confirm  all  the  arrangements  which  the  triumvirs  had  mado 
respecting-  the  state. 

This  being  done,  Antony,  attended  by  his  wife  Octavia, 
set  out  for  Athens.  Here  he  learned  that  the  war  in  Syria 
was  in  a  great  measure  at  an  end ;  that  Pacorus,  the  son  of 
the  king  of  Parthia,  having  attacked  Ventidius  in  his  camp, 
was  repulsed;  that  his  forces  had  been  afterwards  routed 
in  different  encounters,  and  dispersed ;  and  that  Pacorus 
himself  was  killed. 

Antony,  upon  this  termination  of  a  war,  which  so  much 
alarmed  his  division  of  the  empire,  probably  would  have 
been  inclined  to  return  into  Kgypt ;  but  as  the  presence  of 
Octavia  rendered  a  visit  to  Cleopatra  improper,  he  deter- 
mined to  take  up  his  residence  at  Athens.  From  thence  he 
distributed  to  his  officers  their  several  stations  and  pro- 
vinces, and  disposed  of  kingdoms  on  the  frontier  to  princes 
who  solicited  his  protection :  that  of  Pontus  he  bestowed 
on  Darius  the  son  of  Pharnaces,  and  grandson  of  Mithri- 
dates ;  that  of  the  Jews  and  Samaritans,  on  Herod ;  that  of 
Pisidia,  on  Amyntas;  and  that  of  Cilicia,  on  Polemon. 
During  the  winter  he  dropped  all  the  retinue  of  a  Roman 
*  officer  of  state,  resigned  himself  to  ease-,  domestic  pleasures, 
and  the  conversation  of  the  learned. 

While  Antony  thus  passed  his  leisure  at  Athens,  Octa- 
vius,  whose  conduct,  on  most  occasions,  is  a  manifest  con- 
trast to  that  of  his  colleague,  did  not  fail  to  avail  himself  of 
the  advantages  of  his  situation  in  Italy,  the  supposed  head 
of  the  empire,  and  of  the  bent  of  the  times  to  monarchy,  by 
uniting,  as  much  as  possible,  all  the  channels  of  influence  in 
his  own  person.  The  concerts  of  the  first  Cesar  with  Pom- 
pey  and  Crassus,  though  named  a  triumvirate,  were  the 
mere  effects  of  a  private  combination  to  overrule  the  public 
councils,  and  to  dispose  of  every  preferment,  or  place  of 
emolument  or  trust.  But  the  power  now  exercised  by 
Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepidus,  a  commission  of  triumvi- 
rate, in  so  great  an  exigency  of  the  state,  professedly  given 
to  restore  its  tranquillity,  and  re-establish  public  order,  if  it 
had  been  freely  granted  instead  of  being  extorted  by  force, 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  477 

was  well  enough  suited  to  former  precedents,  and  preserved 
the  analogy  of  Roman  forms,  insomuch,  that  if  the  people 
had  been  less  corrupted,  the  government  of  the  republic 
might  have  been  easily  restored. 

The  titles  of  senate  and  people,  of  consul,  pretor,  arA 
other  magistrates  or  officers  of  state,  were  still  retained, 
and  preserved  the  appearance  of  ancient  formalities, 
whether  in  the  legislature,  or  in  the  exercise  of  the  executive 
power.  The  senate  consisted  of  persons  willing  to  submit 
to,  or  known  to  favour,  the  present  usurpation.  Even  the 
pretended  comitia  were  retained  in  form,  though  they  were 
no  longer  those  overbearing  conventions,  in  which  multi- 
tudes assembled  in  a  tumultuary  manner,  assumed  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Roman  people,  disposed  of  elections,  or 
carried  their  own  mandates  into  execution  with  irresisti- 
ble force. 

As  the  supreme  power,  and  the  exercise  of  every  public 
function,  both  at  Rome  and  in  the  provinces,  were  now 
vested  in  the  triumvirs,  the  ordinary  offices  of  state  were 
filled  up  merely  for  the  sake  of  form,  or  rather  that  there 
might  be  an  opportunity  to  oblige  particular  persons  in 
their  advancement  to  public  honour.  The  titles  of  preto- 
rian  and  consular  rank,  retained  by  those  who  had  filled 
those  offices  in  the  commonwealth,  Avere  come  to  resemble 
the  titles  of  honour  by  which  the  nobles  are  distinguished  in 
our  modern  Gothish  monarchies;  and  men  had,  for  some 
time,  begun  to  covet  the  office,  not  on  account  of  the  power 
It  conferred,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  title  it  was  to  leave 
behind,  with  the  persons  by  whom  it  had  once  been  pos- 
sessed. 

About  this  time  is  dated  a  considerable  alteration  made 
in  the  Roman  law,  by  the  addition  of  a  rule  respecting  the 
effect  of  last  wills.  This  rule  is  ascribed  to  Falcidius,  one 
uf  the  colleagues  of  Octavius  in  the  college  of  tribunes. 
Mitherto  Roman  citizens  were  free  to  bequeath  their  for- 
tunes at  pleasure,  and  to  divide  them  in  any  proportion 
Among-  their  friends  or  acquaintance,  whether  relations  or 
strangers ;  but  by  the  law  of  Palcidius,  testators  were  suf- 
fered to  dispose,  by  will,  of  no  more  than  three-fourths  of 
their  effects  ;  the  other  fourth  was  assigned  to  the  heir  at 
law. 

While  Antony  yet  resided  at  Athens,  Octavius  pass««<l 
into  Gaul  on  a  progress  to  review  his  armies,  and  to  make 
the  proper  disposition  of  his  force  in  the  provinces  ;  and  it 
began  to  appear,  that  the  late  treaty,  which  had  been  con- 
cluded with  Soxtus  Pompeius,  was  no  more  than  a  tempo, 
-ary  expedient  to  procure  relief  to  the  inhabitants  of  Italy 


478  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

from  the  distresses  with  which  they  had  been  lately  afflicted: 
The  articles  were  never  fully  performed  by  either  party. 
A  family  alliance  which  Octavius  had  contracted  with  Sex- 
tus  Pompeius  in  his  marriage  with  Scribonia,  daughter  of 
Scribonius  Libo,  by  whom  he  had  issue,  a  daughter  after- 
wards so  famous  by  the  name  of  Julia,  was  likewise,  about 
this  time,  broke  ott'  to  make  way  for  his  marriage  with 
Livia,  a  name  to  be  often  repeated  in  the  subsequent  parts 
of  this  history.*  Livia  Drusilla  was  the  daughter  of  Livius 
Drusus,  a  citizen  who  had  been  in  open  enmity  with  Octa- 
vius and  his  party ;  and  who,  in  despair,  after  the  battle  of 
Philippi,  with  other  adherents  of  the  republic,  had  fallen  by 
his  own  hands.  The  daughter  had  been  married  to  Tibe- 
rius Claudius  Nero,  who  also  was  a  declared  enemy  of  the 
Cesarian  faction :  and  who,  in  the  late  contest  of  parties  in 
Italy,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  ejected  landholders  of 
Campania,  joined  Lucius  Antonius,  and,  on  the  reduction 
of  Perusia,  fled  with  his  family  into  Sicily,  where  he  took 
refuge  with  Sextus  Pompeius.  Being  included  in  the 
treaty  of  reconciliation  which  was  framed  at  Baiae,  he  re- 
turned to  Rome.  His  wife  had  already  born  him  a  son, 
afterwards  well  known  by  the  name  of  Tiberius,  and  was 
again  with  child,  and  six  months  gone  in  her  pregnancy, 
when  it  was  proposed,  that  she  should  part  from  her  present 
husband,  and  bring  forth  the  child,  of  whom  she  was  then 
pregnant,  under  the  roof  of  Cesar. 

After  complaints  had  become  mutual  between  Octavius 
and  Sextus  Porapeius,  a  rupture  between  them  was  hast- 
ened by  the  defection  of  Menas,  one  of  Pompey's  officers. 
This  person,  being  intrusted  with  the  command  of  a  fleet  in 
the  ports  of  Sardinia,  upon  some  disgust  to  his  master,  en- 
tered into  a  correspondence  with  Octavius,  made  offer  of 
his  service,  and  surrendered  the  island. 

As  this  transaction  took  place  while  the  treaty  was  yet 
supposed  to  be  in  force,  Pompey  demanded  that  the  traitor 
should  be  delivered  up  to  him,  and  the  island  of  Sardinia 
restored ;  but  was  answered,  that  he  himself  jiad  been 
the  aggressor,  in  giving  refuge  to  deserters  and  fugitive 
slaves,  on  receiving  this  answer,  he  proceeded  to  immediate 
bostilities. 

The  whole  summer  was  spent  in  undecisive  operations, 
and  several  naval  actions  took  place.  Both  parties  however 
prepared  for  a  vigorous  renewal  of  the  contest  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring.  Pompey  himself  continued  to  alarm  the 
coast  of  Italy  during  the  winter,  and  sent  Apollophanea, 

*  U.  C.  715. 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  479 

one  of  his  officers,  to  make  a  descent  upon  Africa.*  Octa- 
vius gave  orders  to  repair  the  loss  of  his  ships,  and  to 
recruit  his  land-forces.  He  had  recourse  to  the  assistance 
of  Antony,  had  hitherto  expressed  a  dislike  to  the  war,  and 
was  probably  jealous  of  the  accessions  of  power  which 
Octavius  was  likely  to  gain  by  the  destruction  of  Sextus 
Pompeius.  Antony  however,  upon  this  requisition  from  his 
colleague,  set  sail  from  Greece,  and  appeared  at  Tarentum 
with  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  ships,  though  still  undeter- 
mined, it  is  supposed,  which  side  he  should  take  in  the 
present  contest.  But  Octavia,  who  had  accompanied  her 
husband  to  Tarentum,  had  the  address  to  turn  the  scale 
in  favour  of  her  brother.  She  undertook  to  be  the  medi- 
ator of  their  differences,  went  on  shore,  and  procured  an 
amk-.'ible  interview  between  them.  At  this  meeting  they 
made  an  exchange  of  sea  and  land  forces.  Antony  gave 
to  Octavius  a  hundred  and  twenty  ships,  and  had  in  return 
twenty  thousand  legionary  soldiers. 

The  period  for  which  the  pretended  commission  of  the 
triumvirs  had  been  granted  by  the  Roman  senate  and 
people  being  now  about  to  expire,  Octavius  and  Antony, 
without  having  recourse  to  the  same  form,  resumed  tho 
exercise  of  their  power  for  firs  years  longer.  And  having, 
in  appearance,  amicably  settled  the  several  points  in  dispute 
between  themselves,  they  separated  in  pursuit  of  their 
respective  objects,  Octavius  being  intent  on  the  war  with 
Sextus  Pompeius,  and  Antony  on  one  with  the  Parthians. 

While  the  summer  passed  in  the  preparation  of  harbours 
on  the  west  coast  of  Italy,  and  in  the  equipment  of  a 
proper  fleet  to  encounter  that  of  Pompey,  Menus,  repc-iting 
of  his  late  desertion,  entered  into  a  correspondence  with 
his  former  master ;  and  being  assured  of  pardon,  withdrew 
with  seven  ships  from  the  fleet  of  Octavius,  then  under  tho 
command  of  Calvisius,  and  returned  to  his  former  service. 
Octavius  took  this  occasion  to  supersede  Calvisius,  upon  an 
imputation  of  neglect,  and  appointed  Agrippa  to  succeed 
him  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

About  a  year  was  spent  in  the  equipment  of  ships,  and  In 
Draining  the  mariners,  which,  for  the  convenience  of  har- 
bours and  docks,  was  executed  at  two  separate  stations ; 
one  at  Tarentum,  under  Statilius  Taurus,  where  the  ships 
which  had  been  furnished  by  Antony  still  remained;  the 
other  in  a  new  harbour  at  Puteoli,  under  Agrippa.f  Lep- 
idus,  to  second  the  operations  of  Octavius,  had  assembled 
his  forces  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  it  was  concerted  that 

»  U.  C.  71«.  t  U.  C.  717. 


480  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

Sicily  should  be  invaded,  about  the  first  of  July,  in  three 
places  at  once  ;  at  Lilybaeum,  the  nearest  port  to  Africa, 
by  Lepidus  ;  at  Mylae,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  island, 
by  Agrippa  ;  and  at  Taurominium,  on  the  eastern  coast,  by 
Statilius  Taurus. 

Lepidus  sailed  with  the  first  division  of  his  army,  and 
landed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lilybaeum  ;  while  Statilius 
Taurus,  joined  by  Octavius,  embarked  with  his  army,  and 
without  meeting  with  any  obstruction,  arrived  at  Tauro- 
minium, and  landed  his  forces.  Agrippa,  however,  was 
less  successful  in  his  descent  on  Mylae,  though  he  succeeded 
in  defeating  the  fleet  by  which  he  was  intercepted.  Lepidus, 
with  that  part  of  the  army  he  had  landed  in  Sicily,  remained 
inactive  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lilybaeum,  until  having 
accounts  that  Octavius  was  arrived  in  the  island,  had 
united  the  different  divisions  of  his  army  at  Mylae,  and  had 
obliged  Sextus  Pompeius  to  collect  all  his  force  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Messina,  he  supposed  that  the  country 
from  thence  might  be  open  to  him ;  and  he  accordingly, 
notwithstanding  that  Plennius,  with  a  considerable  body 
of  Pompey's  forces,  remained  behind  him  at  Lilybaeum, 
marched  from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the  other.  Having 
effected  a  junction  with  Octavius,  they  pressed  upon  Pom- 
pey  at  once  with  their  united  forces  both  by  sea  and  by  land, 
surprised  and  took  the  fortress  of  Mylae,  and  threatened  to 
invest  Messina,  cutting  off  the  communications  of  his  fleet 
and  army  with  the  country  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that 
city.  In  order  to  avoid  these  inconveniences,  Pompey 
found  himself  under  a  necessity  to  hazard  a  battle  either  by 
sea  or  by  land,  or  wherever  his  antagonists  presented  an 
opportunity  the  most  likely  to  procure  him  relief.  He 
himself  relied  chiefly  on  his  naval  force  ;  and  accordingly, 
without  seeking  for  any  advantage  of  situation  or  surprise, 
presented  himself  to  the  enemy  near  to  Naulochus,  between 
the  promontories  of  Mylae  and  Pelorus,  and  was  there  met 
by  Agrippa. 

The  fleets  which  were  now  to  engage,  consisted  of  about 
three  hundred  ships  on  each  side.  .  When  formed  in  order 
of  battle,  their  lines  were  nearly  of  equal  extent.  They 
advanced  deliberately  on  smooth  water,  without  any  cir- 
cumstance that  appeared  to  prognosticate  the  victory  on 
either  side.  After  an  obstinate  fight,  in  which  the  fleet  of 
Pompey  already  suffered  considerably,  seventeen  of  his 
ships  at  once  withdrew  from  the  action,  and  stood  away 
for  the  Straits  of  Messina.  Those  that  were  nearest  th« 
land  ran  upon  the  shore,  and  were  wrecked  or  taken  ;  the 
remainder  being  farther  at  sea,  and  cut  of!  from  their  ow« 


CH.  VI. J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  4S1 

harbours,  struck  and  delivered  themselves  up  to  the  enemy. 
Of  this  fleet,  twenty-eight  ships  were  sunk;  above  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  being  the  whole  that  remained  besides 
the  seventeen  that  fled  to  Messina,  were  stranded,  taken, 
or  burned.  Octavias  lost  only  three  ships. 

Pompey  perceiving  the  extent  of  his  calamity,  was  seized 
with  despair;  made  haste  to  Messina:  and  embarked  for 
Lesbos,  with  his  daughter  and  a  few  persons  whom  he  had 
chosen  to  attend  him  in  his  flight. 

At  this  time  Lepidus  being  near  to  Messina,  while  Oc- 
tavius  still  remained  at  Naulochus,  invested  the  place,  and, 
without  consulting  his  colleague,  granted  the  terms  which 
were  asked  by  Plennius,  took  possession  of  the  town,  and 
incorporated  the  troops  that  had  served  under  that  officer 
with  Ms  own  army.  He  now  reckoned  under  his  own 
standard  twenty-two  legions,  with  a  numerous  body  of 
horse,  and  proposed  not  only  to  keep  possession  or  Messina, 
but  to  claim  the  whole  island  of  Sicily  as  an  appendage  of 
tis  province  in  Africa.  His  colleague,  already  provoked 
at  the  precipitation  with  which  he  had  granted  a  capitula- 
tion to  the  troops  at  Messina,  loudly  complained  of  the 
proposal ;  while  both  armies  saw  with  dislike  the  symptoms 
of  an  open  rupture  and  of  a  fresh  war,  in  which  soldiers, 
without  any  prospect  of  advantage,  even  to  the  victori, 
were  mutually  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  blood,  to  decide 
a  question  of  mere  jealousy  or  emulation  between  their 
leaders. 

Octavius  was  conscious  of  a  superiority,  in  the  opinion 
even  of  the  troops  who  were  enlisted  to  serve  under  the 
command  of  his  rival.  He  accordingly  thought  this  a 
favourable  opportunity  to  strip  him  of  his  share  in  the  em- 
pire, and  employed  proper  agents  in  the  camp  of  Lepidus, 
and  gained  many  of  his  principal  officers  by  presents,  and 
by  the  expectation  of  greater  rewards.  At  length,  think- 
ing the  wny  sufficiently  prepared  for  an  open  declaration, 
he  presented  himself  with  a  party  of  horse  in  the  front  of  the 
camp,  at  a  time  when  Lepidus  was  out  of  the  way,  entered 
with  a  feu-  attendants,  harangued  the  troops,  and  produced 
an  entire  defection. 

Lepidus,  seeing  the  desertion  of  his  army  complete,  sub- 
mitted to  his  rival,  who  gave  him  leave  to  return  into  Italy, 
where  he  lived  afterwards  equally  unobserved  by  those 
against  whom  he  had  been  made  the  instrument  of  injustice, 
and  by  those  who  had  made  him  their  tool. 
Ss 


482  HISTORY  OF  THE 


CHAP.  VII. 

Force*  of  Octavius  after  the  Acquisition  of  Sicily,  and  the  Junction  of  tht 
Armies  of  Sextut  Pompeius  and  Lepidus— Mutiny  and  Separation  of 
these  Forces — His  Reform  of  the  Army— Expedition  of  Antony  agaiwt 
the  Parthians-^His  retreat— Open  breach  between  Octavius  and  Antony 
—  Operations  of  Antony  and  Octavius  on  the  Gulf  of  Ambracia— 
Battle  of  Actium — Flight  of  Antony — Immediate  Arrangements  oj 
Octavius  after  his  Victory  —  Death  of  Anlany—And  of  Cleopatra. 

IN  consequence  of  the  events  which  had  taken  place  in 
Sicily,  Octarius  found  himself  at  once  at  the  conclusion  of 
a  hazardous  war,  and  master  of  all  the  forces  which  had  been 
employed  in  it,  whether  as  friends  or  as  enemies.  His  fleet 
now  consisted  of  near  six  hundred  galleys  with  store-ships 
and  transports  ;  his  land  army  of  forty-live  legions,  which, 
though  supposed  to  be  incomplete,  may  have  amounted  to 
above  two  hundred  thousand  men.  To  these  he  joined 
above  fifteen  thousand  horse  and  twenty  thousand  irregular 
infantry.  They  had  been  levied  for  different  masters  and 
in  different  parts  of  the  empire,  were  persons  of  diffe- 
rent descriptions;  originally  slaves,  as  well  as  free  men; 
natives  of  Spain,  Sardinia,  Sicily,  and  Africa,  mixed  with 
Italians  and  Roman  citizens;  adherents  of  Cesar  and  of 
Pompey,  of  Antony,  of  Octavius,  or  Lepidus.  It  was  very 
difficult  to  dispose  of  an  assemblage  consisting  of  such 
various  and  discordant  parts.  The  troops  that  came  over 
from  Sextus  Pompeius  or  Lepidus  were  to  be  retained  by 
indulgence  and  favours,  and  those  who  had  been  the  original 
support  of  Cesar's  fortunes  had  peculiar  merits ;  all  were 
sensible  of  their  own  consequence,  and  even  of  a  power  t« 
dispose  of  the  empire. 

Octavius  for  some  time  affected  to  be  ignorant  of  discon- 
tents which  had  arisen  among  the  troops  on  account  of  a 
niggardly  donation  he  had  made  them,  and  would  have  pro- 
ceeded to  make  certain  arrangements  he  had  planned  for 
separating  them,  and  for  placing  the  legions  in  quarters  re- 
mote from  each  other  ;  but  he  had  reason  to  doubt  that  his 
orders  would  not  be  obeyed,  and  still  remained  in  suspense. 
When  his  knowledge  of  the  mutinous  spirit  that  prevailed 
in  the  army  could  no  longer  be  dissembled,  he  soothed  the 
most  clamorous  by  additional  marks  of  his  favour,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  public  honours,  badges  of  military  service  to 
the  men,  and  the  title  of  senators  bestowed  on  many  of 
the  officers.  The  legions  who  had  served  at  Mutina  and 


Ca.  VII.3  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  483 

Philippi,  amounting  to  twenty  thousand  men,  were  sepa- 
rately appeased  by  donations  and  promises  ;  were  prevailed 
upon  to  accept  of  their  discharge  from  the  service,  and, 
without  any  farther  disturbance,  to  depart  from  the  island. 

When  this  party  of  the  array  was  removed,  Octavius 
affected  to  consider  those  who  were  gone  as  the  sole  cause 
of  the  late  discontents,  and  the  guilty,  he  said,  being  thus 
separated  from  the  innocent  and  from  the  deserving,  he 
made  an  additional  present  in  money  to  those  who  remained, 
and  held  out  the  hopes  of  convenient  settlements,  and  of 
plentiful  fortunes,  at  the  final  expiration  of  their  time  in 
the  service.  By  these  artifices,  and  prudent  measures,  he 
effected  the  proposed  separation,  and  extricated  himself  from 
a  danger  which  frequently  arises  in  the  sequel  of  civil  wars, 
and  threatens  the  victor  with  an  overthrow,  from  that  very- 
engine  which  he  had  employed  to  raise  his  fortunes. 

The  inhabitants  of  Italy,  and  Roman  citizens  in  general, 
having,  among  other  evils,  suffered  greatly  during  the  civil 
war,  by  the  desertion  of  their  slaves,  who  were  readily  re- 
ceived, and  taken  into  the  levies  that  were  continually 
forming  by  different  parties  ;  Octavius  took  this  opportunity 
as  far  as  it  was  in  his  power,  at  once  to  repair  the  loss  which 
had  been  sustained  by  the  master  in  the  desertion  of  his 
slave,  and  to  purge  the  army  of  a  dangerous  class  of  men, 
by  whom  it  was  overcharged  and  contaminated.  In  order 
to  remove  them  in  a  manner  that  should  prevent  any  dis- 
turbance on  their  part,  he  sent  to  every  legion  a  sealed 
order,  to  be  opened  on  a  certain  day,  bearing,  that  all  who 
Lad  been  in  the  condition  of  slaves  should  be  secured ;  that 
as  many  as  were  claimed  should  be  restored  to  their  masters; 
and  that  the  remainder  should  be  put  to  death.  According 
to  this  order,  it  was  reported  that  thirty  thousand  were  re- 
mitted to  servitude,  and  six  thousand  killed. 

About  the^ime  that  the  war  in  Sicily  was  kindled,  Antony 
committed  the  conduct  of  a  war  with  Parthia  to  Ventidius. 
This  officer  acquitted  himself  with  great  honour  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  trust,  recovered  the  province  of  Syria,  which 
had  been  overrun  by  the  Parthians,  and  drove  them  back 
beyond  the  Euphrates.  Upon  this  account,  he  was  judged 
•  worthy  of  a  triumph,  and  came  into  Italy  to  receive  this 
honour. 

In  the  mean  time,  Antony  was  eager  to  gather  the  laurels 
which  yet  remained  in  this  field,  or  was  supposed  to  be 
'ealous  of  the  victories  gained  by  his  lieutenant  over  an 
enemy,  who,  till  then,  scarcely  had  yielded  any  advantage 
to  the  Roman  arms.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Asia  from  liis  last 
visit  to  Italy,  it  soon  appeared  that  he  was  still  under  th« 


484  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

dominion  of  former  passions.  He  already  had  t\vo  children 
by  the  queen  of  Egypt,  who  were  named  Alexander  *nd 
Cleopatra,  but  whom  the  mother  likewise  distinguished,  by 
the  pompous  appellations  of  the  Sun  and  the  Moon.  Being 
prevented  by  the  urgency  of  the  service,  at  this  season,  from 
making  a  visit  to  Alexandria,  he  sent  an  officer  of  rank, 
Fonteius  Capito,  thither,  to  conduct  Cleopatra  from  her  own 
kingdom  into  Syria  ;  and  having  received  her  in  that  pro- 
vince, in  his  way  to  the  Euphrates,  among  other  marks  of 
his  liberality,  he  made  her  a  present  of  Phenicia,  Celosyria, 
Cyprus,  and  some  part  of  Cilicia  to  be  annexed  to  her  king- 
dom. 

The  army,  now  mustered  by  Antony,  consisted  of  sixty 
thousand  Roman  infantry,  ten  thousand  Spanish  and  Gaulish 
cavalry,  thirty  thousand  irregulars,  being  an  assemblage  of 
horse  and  foot,  and  of  different  nations.  While  he  advanced 
\vith  this  force  towards  the  Euphrates,  he  made  his  demand 
tfiat  the  Parthians  should  restore  the  captives  and  military 
ensigns  taken  with  Crassus.  This  was  become  a  point  of 
national  honour  among  the  Romans,  and,  joined  to  the  late 
provocation,  was  made  the  ground  of  the  present  quarrel. 

The  Roman  general  had  undertaken  this  invasion  of  the 
Parthians,  in  concert  with  the  king  of  Armenia.  When  he 
arrived  in  the  Lesser  Armenia,  the  season  was  too  far  ad- 
vanced to  effect  the  service  he  had  planned  against  the  Par- 
thians ;  bat  having  intelligence  that  the  Medes,  or  people 
of  the  Greater  Armenia,  had  joined  the  enemy  against  him 
in  the  preceding  part  of  the  present  war,  he  laid  siege  to 
Praaspa  or  Phraata,  the  capital  of  their  country ;  leaving 
his  heavy  baggage  and  engines  on  the  banks  of  Euphrates 
with  a  guard  of  two  legions,  under  the  command  of  Sta- 
tianus. 

It  was  found  that  this  city  could  not  be  taken  by  assault, 
and  the  Parthians,  although  they  hastened. to  its  relief, 
knowing  that  the  Roman  army  had  come  altogether  un- 
prepared for  a  siege,  snftered  them  at  lirst  to  remain  before 
it  undisturbed.  They  directed  their  whole  force  against 
Statianus,  whom,  with  the  two  legions  he  commanded,  they 
surprised  and  cut  off,  and  by  this  means  made  themselves 
masters  of  all  the  equipage  and  baggage  of  the  Roman  army.. 

Antony  still  nattering  himself  that  the  town  might  be 
obliged  to  surrender,  and  that  it  might,  by  its  spoil-*,  make 
up  for  the  loss  of  his  baggage,  lay  before  it  until  he  had 
exhausted  all  the  provisions  and  forage  that  was  to  be 
found  in  the  neighbouring  country.  As  the  enemy  pressed 
upon  him,  in  order  to  diminish  the  range  from  which  he  re- 
ceived his  provisions,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  hazarding  a 


CH.  VII. 1  ROMAN  RKPUBL1C.  485 

battle  :  and  for  this  purpose,  marched  from  his  oamp  with 
ten  legions,  three  pretorian  cohorts,  ;md  all  his  cavalry. 
The  Farthinns  f.ft'octed  to  abide  his  attack,  but  gave  way  at 
the  first  onset,  and  fled  with  every  appearance  of  rout  and 
*onfusion :  they  were  pursued  by  the  Roman  infantry  for 
fifty  stadia,  or  about  six  miles,  and  by  the  cavalry  over  a 
hundred  and  fifty  stadia,  or  about  eighteen  mile*.  In  this 
action,  Antony  flattered  himself  that  he  had  put  an  end  to 
his  troubles  from  the  Parthians ;  but,  on  numbering  the  pri- 
soners and  the  slain,  he  found  that  only  eighty  of  the  enemy 
were  killed,  and  thirty  taken.  From  this  specimen  of  a 
victory  over  the  Parthians,  he  learned  to  despair  of  being1 
al»ie  to  gain  any  advantage  over  an  enemy,  whose  defeats 
were  more  pernicious  to  their  antagonists  than  they  were 
to  themselves.  To  complete  his  mortifications,  he  found 
that  the  garrison  of  Praaspa  had  made  a  powerful  sally  in 
his  absence,  driven  his  guards  from  their  approaches,  and  de- 
stroyed all  the  works  he  had  constructed  against  the  town. 
Judging  it  vain  to  renew  his  attack,  or  to  remain  any  longer 
In  his  present  situation,  he  prepared  for  a  retreat ;  on  which 
the  Parthian  cavalry  prepared  to  pursue  him,  and  when  he 
moved  disputed  every  pass,  hung  upon  his  rear  and  upon 
his  llanks,  occupied  the  springs  of  water,  and  laid  waste  the 
country  before  him.  Many  of  the  Roman  army,  overcome 
by  famine  and  fatigue,  expired  on  the  march ;  others  had 
laid  down  their  arms,  and  submitted  to  the  enemy.  But 
the  general  passed  through  all  these  difficulties,  as  usual, 
with  uncommon  constancy  and  valour,  making1,  in  twenty- 
one  days,  a  march  of  three  hundred  miles,  under  a  continual 
attack  of  the  enemy,  in  which,  it  is  reckoned  that  his  army  was 
eighteen  times  engaged  in  battle.  At  the  end  of  this  march, 
In  reviewing  the  legions,  with  which  he  began  to  retreat,  it 
was  found,  he  had  lost  about  a  fourth  of  their  number ;  or, 
as  Plutarch  states  his  loss,  twenty  thousand  foot,  and  four 
thousand  horse. 

It  appears  that  Antony,  upon  his  arrival  in  the  Lesser 
Armenia,  left  a  considerable  body  behind  him  in  that  coun- 
try, to  check  the  farther  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and  with 
the  remainder  of  the  army,  arrived  at  Alexandria,  when* 
he  endeavoured  to  conceal  his  losses,  and  to  efface  the 
memory  of  his  sufferings  in  the  midst  of  dissipation  and 
pleasure.* 

The  forces  of  the  empire  were  now  parcelled  in  two 
separate  lots,  under  the  direction  of  masters,  who  wero 
•oon  to  entertain  the  views  and  the  jealousies  of  separate 


486  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

monarchs.  Octavius  was  become  the  sovereign  of  Rome, 
and  occupied  chiefly  in  removing  obstructions  to  his 
government,  and  in  consolidating  the  arrangements  be  had 
made  in  the  state.  But  Antony,  acting  as  sovereign  of  the 
eastern  empire,  appeared  on  his  part  to  be  altogether  intent 
on  the  entertainments  of  the  court  at  Alexandria,  on  th« 
renewal  of  the  war  which  he  affected  to  meditate  against 
the  Parthians,  or  on  his  project  against  Artavasdes,  the 
king  of  the  Lesser  Armenia,  who  he  thought  had  betrayed 
him  in  his  late  expedition. 

In  the  mean  while,  according  to  the  arrangements  that 
were  made  relating  to  the  succession  of  consuls,  Antony 
was  elected  into  this  office ;  and  though  not  present  in  per- 
son on  the  first  of  January,  had  his  name  entered  on  the 
record.* 

Octavius,  probably,  treading  as  nearly  as  he  could  in  the 
steps  of  his  late  uncle,  still  sought  for  occasions  to  keep  his 
armies  in  service ;  among  these,  he  projected  an  enterprise 
for  the  reduction  of  Britain,  made  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions, and  proceeded  himself  to  the  northern  part  of  Gaul. 
Here,  however,  his  attention  was  diverted  to  Illyricum,  to 
which  he  advanced  and  joined  Agrippa,  who  was  employed 
against  the  Dalmatians,  and  continued  for  some  months  to 
take  a  part  in  the  campaign  with  this  favourite  officer. 

Antony,  at  the  same  time,  as  if  equally  disposed  to  have 
an  army  inured  to  service,  sought  likewise  for  occasions  of 
war.  He  renewed  his  designs  against  the  kings  of  Armenia 
and  Parthia.  In  the  spring,  lie  advanced  to  Nicopolis,  a 
place  so  named,  from  the  victory  of  Pompey  over  Mithri- 
dates ;  and  managed  to  get  possession  of  the  person  of  Ar- 
tavasdes. Upon  this  the  army  of  Armenia  assembled,  and 
considering  the  throne  as  vacant,  placed  upon  it  Artaxes, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  captive  king ;  when  being  led  by  this 
young  prince  into  immediate  action  they  were  defeated, 
and  he  himself  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  with  the  Par- 
thians. 

Antony  contented  with  this  victory,  which  gave  him 
possession  of  the  country,  put  his  army  into  winter  quar- 
ters in  the  Lesser  Armenia,  and  entered  into  a  defensive 
treaty  with  the  king  of  Media,  whose  daughter,  upon  that 
occasion,  was  betrothed  to  Alexander  the  son  of  Cleopatra. 
At  the  conclusion  of  these  transactions,  Antony  set  out 
on  his  return  to  Egypt,  and  made  his  entry  into  Alexandria 
with  all  the  parade  of  a  Roman  triumph,  repeated  all  the 
forms  which  were  usual  on  such  occasions  at  Rome,  made  a 


H.  VII. j  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  487 

speech  to  the  people,  and  ordered  a  public  feast.  In  these 
several  particulars,  seeming  to  place  the  inhabitants  of 
Alexandria  upon  a  foot  of  equality  with  the  Roman  people, 
and  prostituting  a  solemn  institution  of  the  Romans  to  the 
vanity  of  a  barbarous  court,  he  gave  much  scandal  and  of- 
fence at  Rome.  In  this  time  of  festivity,  he  assumed,  in 
the  midst  of  his  debauch,  not  only  the  eastern  dress,  and  all 
the  badges  of  royalty,  but  likewise  the  attire  and  designa- 
tion of  a  god.  He  presented  Cleopatra  to  the  people,  as 
queen  not  only  of  Egypt  and  Cyprus,  but  likewise  of  Africa 
and  Celosyria,  and  that  he  associated  with  her  in  these 
titles  Cesarion,  her  supposed  son  by  Julius  Cesar.  To  his 
own  son  Alexander,  he  allotted  Armenia,  Media,  and  Par- 
thia,  which,  though  not  in  his  possession,  he  considered  as  a 
certain  conquest:  to  Ptolemy,  another  of  his  sons.  Phenicia, 
Syria,  and  Cilicia,  and  tliis  mock  distribution  of  the  eastern 
kingdoms  was  executed  in  formal  deeds  or  writings,  of 
which  copies  were  ordered  to  Rome  to  be  deposited  in  the 
records  of  the  temple  of  Vesta,  and  in  the  keeping  of  the 
virgins. 

While  Antony  indulged  himself  in  these  extravagancies 
at  Alexandria,  Octavius  had  the  good  fortune  to  disengage 
himself  from  foreign  wars.  Those  which  he  carried  on  in 
Dalmatia,  terminated  in  the  submission  of  that  people,  in 
their  giving  hostages  for  their  good  behaviour,  and  in  their 
restoring  the  colours  which  had  been  taken  from  a  Ronian 
army  they  had  defeated  under  the  conduct  of  Vatinius. 

Antony  passed  the  summer  at  the  head  of  his  army  in 
Syria,  without  having  made  any  attempt  against  the  Par- 
thians.  He  renewed  his  defensive  alliance  with  the  king 
of  Media ;  and  the  parties  in  this  treaty,  being  to  name  the 
powers  against  whom  they  respectively  wished,  in  the 
event  of  a  war,  to  secure  an  alliance,  the  king  of  Media  made 
particular  mention  of  the  Parthians,  and  Antony  named 
Octavius.  At  the  end  of  this  negotiation,  they  mutually 
made  an  exchange  of  some  troops.  Thus  Antony  made  no 
secret  of  the  distrust  which  he  conceived  of  his  colleague  in 
the  empire,  or  of  a  breach,  which,  from  their  mutual  jeal 
ousies  and  provocations,  was  gradually  widening.  He 
affected  to  treat  Cesarion.  the  reputed  son  of  Julius  Cesar 
by  Cleopatra,  as  the  legitimate  heir  of  the  Julian  family. 
He  likewise  retorted  on  Octavius,  the  artifice  which  had 
teen  practised  against  himself,  by  professing  an  intention  to 
resign  the  power  of  triumvir. 

Mutual  complaints  were  publicly  made,  and  supported  at 
Rome.    Neither  of  the  parties  professed  any  intention  of 
to  war;   but.  under  various   pretences,  collected 


488  HISTORY  OF  THE  [Ii.  V. 

money,  and  augmented  their  forces.  They  held  a  continual 
correspondence  by  agents  and  messengers,  merely  to  have 
an  opportunity  of  observing  e;\ch  other's  motions ;  and  soon 
involved  in  their  disputes  and  jealousies,  such  as  now  com- 
posed the  senate  and  assemblies  of  the  people. ^  Cneius  Domi- 
tius  Ahenobarbus,  and  Caius  Sosius,  having  in  consequence 
of  preceding  engagements  succeeded  to  the  consulate,  and 
being  attached  to  Antony,  openly  espoused  his  cause.*  So- 
sius,  on  the  first  of  January,  in  entering  upon  his  office, 
ventured  to  arraign  the  conduct  of  Octavius,  enumerated 
the  injuries  which  he  had  offered  to  Antony,  and  moved  the 
senate  for  redress. 

Octavius  on  that  day  absented  himself  from  the  senate. 
At  its  next  meeting  he  appeared  with  a  numerous  body  of 
armed  men,  seated  himself  between  the  consuls,  and  from 
that  place  made  his  answer  to  the  accusations  which  in 
the  former  meeting  had  been  stated  against  him,  and  re- 
torted much  blame  on  his  enemies.  He  called  upon  Antony, 
in  particular,  to  return  into  Italy,  and  to  resign  the  trium- 
virate, the  period  for  which  that  temporary  power  was 
created  being  now  expired.  No  reply  being  made  to  this 
by  the  friends  of  Antony,  the  assembly  was  adjourned 
for  some  days,  during  which  time  both  the  consuls  thought 
proper  to  withdraw  from  the  city  ;  and  not  supposing 
themselves  safe  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  person  against 
whom  they  had  taken  so  hostile  a  part,  made  their  retreat 
into  Asia, 

Antony,  when  he  received  an  account  of  what  was  thus 
passing  at  Rome,  bting  arrived  in  the  Lesser  Armenia,  on 
his  last  expedition  k«to  that  country,  assembled  all  the  sen- 
ators of  his  party  who  were  then  with  hia  army,  laid  before 
them  his  grounds  of  complaint  agahist  Octaviua,  renounced 
in  form  his  marriage  with  Octavia,  a.nd  declared  war  on 
her  brother.  At  the  same  time  he  took  R  sclasin  oath,  in 
which  he  bound  himself,  at  the  e*id  cf  ebr  soctha,  fetter  he 
should  have  relieved  Italy  from  the  tyranny  of  Celavius, 
to  restore  the  government  entire  to  tte  senate  K>d.  people, 
agreeably  to  the  ancient  constitution,  K»?iii£  taken  this 
method  to  gain  all  those  who  wished  for  the  r»:etoration  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  having1  remittee?  j-reat  sums  of 
money  into  Italy,  to  be  dealt  out  iu  presents  and  gratuities 
to  the  army  of  his  rival,  instead  of  puj-cjJjig  the  pretended 
object  of  the  war  in  Armenia,  he  put  his  army  in  motion 
westward.  Having  Canidius  advanced  wvth  sixteen  le- 
gions, he  himself  conducting  the  queen  of  Egypt-,  who  was 


On.  VII. 1  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  489 

to  have  her  share  iu  the  enterprise,  took  the  route  of 
Kphosus,  where  ;ill  his  ships  were  ordered  to  assemble.  Of 
these  he  had  eight  hundred  sail,  of  which  Cleopatra  fur- 
nished two  hundred  completely  equipped,  together  with 
twenty  thousand  talents  in  money. 

At  Rome  war  was  formally  declared  against  the  queen 
of  Egypt,  while  Octavius,  with  his  usual  discretion,  to 
avoid  making  enemies  unnecessarily  of  those  who  must 
have  been  involved  with  Antony  in  any  personal  attain- 
der, did  not  include  him  in  this  declaration.  Antony,  in 
the  meaL  time,  advanced  with  his  fleet  and  army  from 
Ephesus  to  Samoa,  and  from  thence  to  Athens,  where, 
together  with  the  queen  of  Egypt,  he  was  received  with  a 
flattering  pageantry.  From  thence  Antony  proceeded  to 
the  island  of  Corey ra,  where  all  his  forces  assembled,  and 
seemed  to  threaten  Italy  with  an  immediate  invasion. 
Determined,  however,  to  pass  the  winter  in  Greece,  he 
sent  his  fleet  into  the  gulf  of  Ambracia,  and  quartered  hit 
army  iu  the  Peloponnesus,  or  round  the  gulf  of  Corinth, 
where,  besides  the  ordinary  resources  of  the  country,  they 
had  continual  supplies  of  every  necessary  by  sea,  from  Asia 
and  Egypt. 

Octavius  now  holding  the  office  of  Roman  consul,  en- 
deavoured to  sink,  under  this  designation  of  a  legal  magis- 
trate, his  pretensions  as  a  military  adventurer,  and  qualified 
the  troops,  which  he  employed  against  Antony,  as  the 
forces  of  the  commonwealth,  assembled  to  repel  the  attack 
of  a  foreign  enemy.  *  He  drew  them  together  on  the 
coast  of  Apulia,  and  while  he  stationed  the  greater  part  of 
hia  fleet  in  two  divisions  at  Brundusium  and  Tarentum, 
sent  Agrippa  with  a  squadron  to  ply  off  the  harbours  of 
Greece,  and  to  interrupt  the  naval  communications  of  the 
enemy. 

By  the  vigilance  and  activity  of  Agrippa,  many  captures 
were  made  in  the  winter,  and  the  conveyance  of  corn,  arms, 
and  military  stores  from  Asia,  Syria,  and  Egypt,  intended 
for  the  use  of  Antony's  fleet  and  army,  was  rendered  dif- 
ficult and  extremely  precarious.  To  supply  their  necessities, 
both  his  sea  and  land  forces  were  obliged  to  plunder  the 
country  around  them  ;  and,  in  the  want  of  horses  and 
carriages,  drove  the  inhabitants  like  beasts  of  burden,  laden 
with  corn  and  other  provisions,  to  the  sea  coast. 

In  the  mean  time,  Octavius  brought  his  land  forces  to 
Brundusium  and  Tarentum ;  and  from  thence,  in  order  to 
fix  the  theatre  of  the  war  in  Greece,  he  embarked  with  hii 

*  U.  C.  722. 


490  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V.  • 

army,  and  stood  for  tho  opposite  coast  of  Epirus.  lie 
anded  under  the  promontory  of  Acroceraunus,  tho  same 
place  at  which  Julius  debarked  in  pursuit  of  the  war 
with  Porapey ;  and  from  this  place,  ordering  the  fleet  to 
coast  round  the  head  lands,  and  the  island  of  Corcyra,  he 
marched  with  the  army  along  shore  towards  the  gulf  01 
Ambracia. 

This  gulf  opens  into  the  channel  that  separates  the  island* 
of  Corcyra,  Leucadia,  and  Cephalonia.  It  is  narrow  at  its 
entrance ;  but  becomes  wider  within,  and  stretches  east- 
ward about  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  At  its  opening,  on  the 
southern  shore  stood  Actium,  and  opposite  to  this  place 
stood  Toryne,  afterwards  called  Nicopolis.  Antony  had 
taken  possession  of  Actium,  and  having  a  proper  harboui 
in  the  gut,  commanded  the  whole  navigation  of  the  gulf. 

Octavius  advancing  with  his  fleet  and  army  from  the 
northward,  and  having  no  opposition  made  to  him  by  the 
enemy,  took  possession  of  Toryne,  entrenched  himself  in  a 
strong  post  on  shore,  and  stationed  his  fleet  behind  him  in 
a  creek,  which  furnished  a  harbour  sufficiently  safe.  Antony, 
already  posted  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  gulf,  either  did 
not  think  himself  in  condition  to  prevent  the  enemy  from 
making  this  lodgment  in  his  presence,  or  determined  by 
some  other  motive,  chose  to  act  on  the  defensive ;  and  thus 
the  armies  were  stationed,  Octavius  in  Epirus,  and  Antony 
in  Acarnania,  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  entrance  to  the 
gulf  of  Ambracia.  The  state  of  the  forces  on  each  side  is 
variously  reported.  It  appears  that  Antony  had  five  hun- 
dred galleys,  of  which  there  were  many  mounting  eight 
and  ten  tire  of  oars ;  that  the  land  army,  which  had  been 
transported  by  his  fleet,  consisted  of  a  hundred  thousand 
infantry,  and  twelve  thousand  horse  j  that  Octavius  had 
two  hundred  and  fifty  galleys,  eighty  thousand  foot,  and 
twelve  thousand  horse. 

In  a  variety  of  manoeuvres  both  by  sea  and  land  passed 
the  greater  part  of  summer :  but  as  nothing  was  decided, 
Domitius,  who,  in  the  preceding  year,  notwithstanding  he 
was  consul,  had  left  his  station  in  the  city  to  join  Antony, 
now  disgusted  with  his  conduct,  went  over  to  Octavius. 
A  general  distrust  ensued  in  the  party,  and  Antony,  being 
distressed  for  want  of  provisions,  saw  the  necessity  of  mak- 
ing his  retreat,  or  of  risking  a  general  action.  His  fleet 
naving  suffered  greatly  in  winter  from  scarcity  and  from 
disease,  he  deliberated  whether  he  should  not  abandon  his 
•hips,  and  rest  his  cause  on  the  event  of  a  battle  on  shore. 
He  determined  that  the  fleet  should  put  to  sea ;  and  if  permit- 
ted, withdraw  from  the  enemy ;  but  if  attacked,  arive  battle. 


CH.VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  491 

After  both  fleets  had  been  some  time  in  readiness,  An- 
tony's fleet  be^an  to  form  in  the  straits.  He  himself,  with 
Poplicola,  embarked  with  the  first  division  on  the  right, 
Qelius  on  the  left,  and  an  officer  named  Marcus  Octa- 
vius,  witli  M.  Justeius  in  the  centre.  Octavius  also  got 
under  sail,  turned  the  headland  of  Toryne,  and  formed  in  a 
line  before  the  entry  of  the  straits,  about  a  mile  from  the 
enemy.  The  right  division  was  commanded  by  M.  Larius, 
the  left  by  Aruntius,  the  whole  by  Agrippa.  Both  armies, 
at  the  same  time,  were  drawn  ont  on  the  shore  to  behold 
the  event :  but  the  fleets,  for  some  time,  did  not  make  any 
movement,  and  it  continued  uncertain  whether  Antony, 
being  still  in  the  road,  might  not  return  to  his  anchors  ;  but 
about  noon  his  ships  began  to  clear  the  straits,  and  came 
forward  where  the  sea-room  was  sufficient  for  their  line. 
As  in  this  movement  the  fleets  came  closer  together,  Agrip- 
pa began  to  extend  his  front,  in  order  to  turn  the  enemy's 
Hank  ;  but  Poplicola,  on  the  other  side,  to  keep  pace  with 
him,  stretching  to  the  same  side,  the  centre  of  both  fleets 
was  equally  opened,  and  they  engaged  soon  after,  without 
any  apparent  advantage  on  either  side. 

The  contest,  for  some  time,  remained  undecided.  In  the 
beginhirig  of  the  action,  the  queen  of  Egypt's  yacht  had 
been  near  to  the  line,  and  she  herself  continued  to  look  on 
the  battle,  till,  overcome  with  anxiety,  affright,  and  horror, 
she  gave  orders  to  remove  her  galley  to  a  greater  distance, 
and  being  once  in  motion  fled  with  all  the  sail  she  could 
make  ;  her  vessel  being  distinguished  by  a  gilded  poop  and 
purple  sails,  made  her  flight  be  conspicuous  to  the  whole 
fleet,  and  drew  away  from  the  line  about  sixty  ships  of  the 
Egyptian  squadron,  who  withdrew  from  the  action. 

Antony,  apprehending  the  consequence  of  this  defection, 
whether  in  despair  of  his  fortunes,  or  in  some  hopes  to  rally 
those  who  fled,  put  on  board  of  a  quick-sailing  vessel,  and 
endeavoured  to  overtake  them.  Being  observed  from 
Cleopatra's  galley,  he  was  taken  on  board  ;  but  no  longer 
capable  of  any  vigorous  or  rational  purpose,  he  became  the 
companion  of  her  flight,  without  any  attempt  to  rally  her 
fleet.  The  flight  of  Antony  was  not  for  some  time  observed, 
and  the  fleet,  notwithstanding  the  desertion  of  their  leader, 
continued  the  action  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  they 
were  overpowered  ;  and  many  of  them  being  greatly  dam- 
aged in  their  oars  and  rigging,  were  not  in  condition  either 
to  resist  or  to  escape,  and  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  enemy. 
Three  hundred  ships  were  taken  or  sunk,  and  above  five 
thousand  men  were  killed.  The  strand  was  covered  with 
wrecks  and  dead  bodies.  . 


492  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V 

The  land  army  of  Antony,  having-  from  the  heights  ou 
shore,  beheld  the  ruin  of  their  fleet,  retired  to  their  camp  as 
with  an  intention  to  maintain  it  to  the  last  extremity.  They 
flattered  themselves  that  their  general,  though  forced  to 
yield  to  his  enemy  at  sea,  would  make  for  the  nearest  port, 
and  again  show  himself  at  the  head  of  his  legions.  These, 
they  said,  he  never  should  have  left,  to  commit  his  fortunes 
to  an  uncertain  element,  and  a  treacherous  ally.  In  these 
hopes  they  remained  for  seven  days  uiiahaken  in  their  duty, 
and  rejected  all  the  otters  which  Octavius  made  to  induce 
them  to  change  their  party.  Being  satisfied,  however,  at 
last,  that  their  hopes  were  vain,  they  consulted  their  safety 
in  different  ways.  Some  laid  down  their  arms;  Canidius 
himself,  who  commanded  them,  withdrew  in  the  night; 
others,  remaining  together  in  small  parties,  took  the  route 
to  Macedonia ;  but,  being  pursued  by  the  enemy,  were 
separately  overtaken,  and  forced  or  persuaded  to  surrender. 
All  the  Roman  citizens,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
eastern  provinces,  all  the  foreign  allies  and  princes,  who 
made  a  part  of  the  vanquished  army,  successively  made 
their  peace ;  and  the  empire  itself  now  seemed  to  be  re- 
duced under  a  single  head. 

Antony  having  continued  his  flight  by  the  coasts  of  the 
Peloponnesus  to  the  head  of  Teuarus,  without  appearing  t« 
recover  his  courage,  made  a  halt  at  this  place,  rather  from 
indecision  and  irresolution,  than  fram  any  settled  purpose 
respecting  the  conduct  of  his  affairs.  Here  he  was  joined 
by  some  ships  that  remained  in  the  action  to  tho  end  of  it ; 
and  being  informed  by  them,  that  the  fleet  was  entirely 
demolished,  he  steered  directly  for  Egypt. 

The  victor  having  entirely  dispersed,  or  gained  to  his  own 
party,  all  the  forces  of  his  rival  in  Europe,  sent  such  a  part 
of  his  army  into  Asia  as  was  thought  necessary  to  finish  the 
remains  of  the  war,  and  permitted  the  veterans,  whose  turn 
it  was  to  be  disbanded,  to  return  into  Italy.  He  himself,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  at  hand  to  observe  the  motions  of 
Antony,  and  to  renew  his  operations  in  the  spring,  proposed 
to  pass  tlie  winter  at  Samos.  The  administration  in  Italy 
\vas  committed  to  Maecenas  and  Agrippa ;  the  first  intrusted 
ivith  the  civil,  the  other  with  the  military  department. 
Agrippa  returned  to  Rome  with  a  particular  charge  of  the 
veterans,  who  were  now  entitled  to  their  dismission,  and  to 
the  reward  of  their  services.  He  was  chosen  for  this  trust, 
as  having  sufficient  authority  to  repress  tlw»  mutinous  spirit 
which  this  order  of  men  had  ever  discovered,  as  often  as 
they  were  encouraged  by  victory  to  state  their  pretensions 
and  to  ovpi-rpta  timir  merits.  The  task,  however,  was  tou 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  493 

arduous  even  fop  the  daring  courage  and  unblemished  re- 
putation of  this  officer,  and  Octavius  had  to  pass  to  Italy  in 
the  most  tempestuous  season  of  winter  to  manage  the 
business. 

Having  pacified  the  clamours  of  those  who  were  most 
urgent;  and  having  been,  during  his  stay  at  Brundusium, 
vested  a  fourth  time  with  the  titles  and  ensigns  of  consul, 
he  set  sail  again  for  the  coast  of  Asia,  with  intention  to  give 
Antony  as  little  time  as  possible  to  recollect  himself,  or  to 
reinstate  his  affairs.*  That  infatuated  person,  upon  his  re- 
turn to  Alexandria,  thinking  it  might  strengthen  his  own 
party  against  that  of  Octavius,  to  point  out  an  immediate 
offspring  of  the  Julian  family,  and  a  succession  of  leaders  to 
the  party  of  Cesar,  declared  Cesarion,  the  reputed  son  of 
Julius  Cesar  by  Cleopatra,  to  be  no\v  of  age,  and  qualified  to 
enter  upon  the  inheritance  of  his  father.  But  while  he  ex- 
asperated his  enemy  by  this  species  of  personal  insult,  he 
appeared  incapable  of  any  rational  plan  of  defence  for  him- 
self or  the  kingdom  he  occupied.  No  exertions  were  made 
on  his  part  to  levy  troops,  fortify  the  frontier  towns,  or  even 
to  learn  the  extent  of  his  disasters.  While  in  this  humour 
he  was  joined  by  Canidius,  the  late  commander  of  his  land 
forces  at  Actium.  From  this  officer  he  had  the  melancholy 
account,  that  all  his  armies  in  Greece  were  dispersed ;  that 
Herod,  the  king  of  Judea,  had  declared  against  him,  and  all 
the  princes  he  had  lately  placed  upon  different  thrones  in 
Asia  had  either  followed  this  example,  or  been  displaced  ; 
that  he  had  not  any  possession  nor  any  certain  friend  beyond 
the  limits  of  ligypt.  Upon  receiving  this  account,  he  with 
Cleopatra  gave  himself  up  to  dissipation,  profusion,  and 
continual  riot. 

In  the  midst  of  their  seeming  indifference  to  life,  both  the 
queen  and  her  lover,  however,  submitted  at  times  to  make 
advances  to  Cesar,  and  to  sue  for  mercy.  They  despatched 
their  messengers  together ;  but  as  Cleopatra  sent,  on  her 
awn  account,  presents  of  a  crown,  a  sceptre,  and  a  throne  of 
gold,  and  privjitely  instructed  her  agent  to  sound  the  dis- 
position of  Cesar  with  respect  to  herself,  this  crafty  politician 
perceived  that  she  wished  to  be  considered  apart  from  An- 
tony, and  endeavoured  to  encourage  her  to  hope  for  a  separ- 
ate treaty. 

Octavius  urged  his  military  operations  on  both  frontier* 
of  the  kingdom  of  Kgypt,  got  possession  of  Pelusium  and  of 
Paretonium  ;  and  advanced  to  the  capital,  where  he  fouud 
Antony  prepared  for  battle.  Ou  the  tirst  of  August  au  tn- 

*  r  (-.  :-jj. 
TT 


494  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

gagement  seemed  inevitable ;  but  the  Egyptian  fleet  being 
ordered  to  begin  the  action,  struck  their  colours,  and  surren- 
dered themselves  without  a  blow.  The  cavalry,  at  the  same 
time,  deserted  to  the  enemy ;  and  the  infantry  being  routed, 
fled  into  the  city. 

Upon  this  dispersion  of  all  his  forces>  Antony  complained 
that  he  was  betrayed,  and  was  heard  to  accuse  the  queen. 
This  unhappy  author  of  his  misfortunes  had  taken  refuge, 
during  the  action,  with  a  few  attendants,  in  the  monument 
which,  upon  apian  of  great  magnificence,  was  then  recently 
built  for  a  royal  sepulchre.  Thither  she  had  already  trans-  ; 
ported  all  her  jewels,  money,  and  most  valuable  effects. 

Antony,  hearing  a  report  that  she  had  put  an  end  to  her 
life,  and  being  now  arrived  at  the  end  of  his  hopes,  and  of 
his  efforts,  gave  his  sword  to  a  freed  slave,  who  had  pro- 
mised to  use  it  when  required  in  the  last  action  of  friend- 
ship to  his  master ;  but  Rros,  unable  to  fulfil  his  promise, 
instead  of  killing  his  master,  plunged  the  sword  into  his 
own  bosom.  Antony  then  snatching  the  weapon,  wounded 
liimself,  but  not  expiring  immediately,  he  was  told  as  he  lay 
bleeding,  that  Cleopatra  was  yet  alive,  and  safe  in  the 
monument.  Seeming  to  revive  at  these  tidings,  he  gave 
directions  that  he  should  be  carried  to  her  presence.  Upon 
his  coming,  she  appeared  on  the  battlements  ;  but  under 
pretence  tliat  she  feared  a  surprise,  refused  to  have  the  gates 
unbarred,  and  made  it  necessary  to  have  him  towed  over 
the  walls.  Although  she  had  wished  to  disengage  herself 
from  this  unfortunate  man,  and  had  even  submitted  to 
betray  him,  now  when  she  saw  him  laid  at  her  feet  expiring 
and  covered  with  his  blood,  she  beat  her  breast,  and  tort* 
her  hair  in  the  agonies  of  real  suffering,  mixed  with  the 
affectation  of  pretended  passion. 

Antony,  having  somewhat  in  his  mind  which  he  wished 
to  express,  called  for  wine,  recovered  strength  enough  to 
utter  a  few  words,  and  expired  :  thus  ending  his  life  in  the 
fifty-third,  or,  according  to  others,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of 
his  age  ;  disposed,  even  in  the  last  scenes  of  it,  to  occupy  the 
intervals  of  relaxation  in  riot  and  debauchery  •,  and  verify- 
ing, in  all  the  steps  of  his  manhood  and  age,  the  charge  01 
extravagance  and  profligacy,  which  marked  his  youth,  and 
ids  first  appearances  in  public  affairs.  He  was  possessed 
of  talents  for  the  council  and  the  field,  which  he  never  ex- 
erted for  any  valuable  purpose,  or  rather  never  exerted 
at  all,  except  when  he  was  pressed  by  the  most  urgent 
necessity  of  his  situation.  In  consequence  of  his  connexion 
with  Julius  Cesar,  and  of  the  place  he  gained  among  the 
military  factions,  which  endeavoured  to  engross  or  to  divide 


CH.  VII.}  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  495 

his  power,  he  was  tempted  to  consider  the  Roman  empire 
itself  as  the  scene  of  his  pleasures;  and,  in  aiming  at  the 
sovereignty  of  the  world,  experienced  those  reverses  which 
fully  displayed  the  versatility  and  instability  of  his  own 
character.  But  he  fell,  at  last  deserted  by  every  Roman 
citizen  who  had  ever  been  attached  to  his  interest ;  betrayed 
by  that  person  to  whose  caprices  chiefly  he  sacrificed  his 
fortunes,  and  under  the  fatal  experience,  that  the  utmost 
eftbrts  of  resolution,  incited  by  the  sense  of  extreme  necessity, 
\vill  not  always  retrieve  the  errors  of  past  dissipation  and 
folly. 

Cleopatra,  as  soon  as  the  scone  in  the  monument  was 
over,  and  she  had  recollected  herself,  sent  an  intimation  of 
Antony's  death  to  Cesar,  and  then  probably  indulged  her 
hopes,  that  the  great  obstacle  to  her  peace  being  removed, 
she  might  obtain  that  consideration  for  her  separate  interests, 
which  Octavius,  by  insinuations,  or  expressions  of  civility, 
had  given  her  cause  to  expect.  Upon  receiving  her  message, 
the  victor  sent  Caius  Proculeius,  a  Roman  knight, who  pre- 
vailed upon  her  to  remove  to  the  palace,  where  she  was 
attended  with  the  usual  state  and  dignity  of  a  sovereign, 
and  in  a  few  days  visited  by  Octavius  himself. 

Equally  anxious  to  avoid  being  led  in  triumph,  as  the  victor 
was  desirous  to  preserve  her  for  this  purpose,  Cleopatra, 
on  finding  out  the  intentions  of  her  visitor  with  respect  to 
herself,  instantly  took  measures  to  end  her  life.  But  in 
order  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  her  keeper,  she  affected  to  be 
resigned  to  her  fate,  and  pretending  to  have  some  business 
of  consequence  to  communicate  to  Cesar,  she  gave  his 
emissary  a  letter,  and  charged  him  to  deliver  it  with  his 
own  hands.  It  contained  expressions  of  exultation  at  hav- 
ing obtained  her  end,  and  having  escaped  from  her  enemies. 
Octavius  on  seeing  this  letter,  gave  orders  to  prevent  what 
he  apprehended  was  her  purpose ;  but  the  queen,  at  the 
arrival  of  the  messenger,  was  already  dead,  and  laid  upon  a 
couch  of  state.  No  mark  of  violence  appeared  on  the  body 
of  the  queen,  except  a  small  puncture  in  her  arm  ;  and  she 
jvas  therefore  supposed  to  have  died  of  a  venomous  bite,  or 
"fa  scratch  with  a  poisoned  instrument.  She  was  now  at 
'.he  age  of  nine-and-thirty  years,  and  of  ihese  had  lire^ 
fourteen  years  with  Antony. 


TM 

HISTORY 

OF  THB 

PROGRESS    AND    TERMINATION 

OF  THB 

ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK    VI. 

CHAP.  I. 

The  Merit  or  Dement  of  Partiet  in  the  latter  Period  of  the  Roman  Re- 
public—Return  of  Octavius  to  Rome  — Hit  Triumphs  and  public 
Entertainment*— Reform  of  the  Army  -  Proportion  to  resign  hit 
Power— Consultation  of  Agrippa  and  Macenat-  Preludet  to  the 
pretended  Resignation  of  Octaviut  -  That  Resignation  itself—  Hit 
Content  to  retain  a  part  in  the  Government  of  the  Empire— Distribu- 
tion of  the  Province!— Title  of  Augustus— The  Establishment  of  Au- 
gustus. 

THE  Roman  republic  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  has- 
tening to  its  ruin  from  the  sedition  of  Tiberius  Gracchus, 
to  the  time  on  which  we  are  now  entered.  A  great  revo- 
lution has  been  so  long  in  dependence,  and  more  blood  has 
been  shed  in  an  age  of  boasted  learning  and  politeness,  than 
perhaps  has  been  known  to  flow  in  any  equal  period  of  the 
most  barbarous  times. 

In  judging  of  those  who  were  concerned  in  this  transac- 
tion, we  may  form  our  opinions  now  upon  speculative 
considerations,  as  they  themselves  joined  their  party  from 
motives  of  interest,  ambition,  or  public  virtue.  Although 
it  be  allowed  that,  in  point  of  justice,  we  must  give  a  pre- 
ference to  those  who  endeavoured  to  preserve  the  consti- 
tution of  their  country,  and  who  acted  merely  in  defence 
of  themselves  and  their  fellow  citizens  ;  yet  in  this  instance 
it  will  be  alleged,  that  the  event  has  had  the  effect  of  au 
experiment,  to  show  that  what  they  btrove  to  perform  waa 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY,  &c.  497 

impracticable,  and  that  notwithstanding  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  the  circumstances  of  the  times  were  such  as  to  have 
rendered  their  success  not  only  desperate,  but  in  a  great 
measure  inexpedient.  They  were  born  to  a  republic,  it  is 
true ;  but  the  people  who  were  destined  to  govern  in  that 
republic  could  no  longer  be  safely  intrusted  with  govern- 
ment ;  and  to  contend  for  such  a  trust  in  behalf  of  men  who 
were  unworthy  of  it,  was  a  dangerous  error,  for  which  the 
best  intentions  could  not  atone.  The  change  therefore 
from  republic  to  monarchy,  it  may  be  alleged,  was  season- 
able ;  "and  Cato,  with  Cicero,  Brutus,  and  all  the  other  par- 
tisans of  the  commonwealth,  actuated  by  a  mistaken, 
though  commendable  zeal  for  liberty,  would  have  supported 
their  fellow-citizens  in  their  pretensions  to  government 
after  they  were  unworthy  of  it;  in  this  attempt  they  fell  a 
necessary  sacrifice  to  their  own  error;  and  in  their  ruin 
made  way  for  an  establishment  better  fitted  to  the  condition 
of  the  age,  and  to  the  character  of  the  people,  than  that  for 
which  they  contended  and  bled. 

In  this  manner  of  stating  the  subject,  we  lay  the  task  of 
vindicating  their  own  conduct  on  those  who  endeavoured 
to  preserve,  not  upon  those  who  destroyed,  the  republic. 
But  in  judging  of  the  merits  of  men  in  so  distant  a  scene, 
we  must  not  proceed  on  conceptions  drawn  from  the  ex- 
perience of  subsequent  ages,  ou  our  own  predilection  for 
monarchy  in  general,  or  even  ou  our  judgment  of  its  expe- 
dience in  that  particular  case;  we  must  suppose  ourselves 
in  the  situation  of  those  who  acted,  and  who,  in  the  result  of 
this  contest,  from  the  condition  of  equals,  were  to  become 
master  and  servant,  or  lord  and  vassal.  One  party  strove 
that  they  should  be  masters,  the  other  that  they  themselves 
should  not  be  slaves.  The  latter  contended  for  the  rights, 
which,  together  with  their  fellow -citizens,  they  had  inher- 
ited, as  Romans;  they  endeavoured  to  preserve  the  man- 
ners, as  well  as  the  institutions,  of  their  country,  against 
the  destroyers  of  both.  The  other  party,  at  first,  under 
pretence  of  zeal  for  higher  measures  of  popular  government 
than  those  they  enjoyed,  endeavoured  to  corrupt  the  people 
whom  they  meant  to  enslave;  and  having,  upon  plausible 
pretences,  got  possession  of  the  sword,  they  turned  it  a-:iin>t 
the  established  government  of  their  country.  Neither  of 
those  parties,  probably,  stated  the  speculative  question 
"vhirh  we  may  now  be  inclined  to  discuss,  whether  republic 
or  monarchy  was  best  accommodated  to  the  Roman  state 
in  the  height  of  its  dominion,  and  in  the  full  tide  of  luxury. 

The  wise,  the  courageous,  and  the  just  alone  are  entitled 
to  power ;  the  innocent  alone  are  entitled  to  freedom.  But 


498  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

they  who  are  not  conscious  of  having  forfeited  their  right 
to  either,  are  undoubtedly  justifiable  in  persisting  to  main- 
tain it.  The  virtuous  who  resign  their  freedom,  at  the  sama 
time  resign  their  virtue,  or  at  least  yield  up  that  condition 
which  is  required  to  preserve  it. 

Some  of  the  characters,  indeed,  that  appeared  in  thi§ 
cause,  may  require  a  separate  treatment.  In  that  of  Cato, 
virtue  was  the  result  of  a  decisive  and  comprehensive  re- 
flection. To  him  rectitude  of  conduct  was  in  itself,  without 
regard  to  consequences,  the  supreme  object  of  desire^  and 
pursuit.  His  penetration,  as  well  as  courage,  in  the  early 
endeavours  he  made,  and  in  the  manly  steadiness  with 
which  he  persisted  to  oppose  the  designs  of  Cesar  and  Pom- 
pey,  while  others  wavered,  and  either  did  not  perceive  their 
intention,  or  tamely  submitted  to  them,  gave  him  a  striking 
superiority  over  his  contemporaries.  He  is  represented  by 
Cicero,  in  some  instances,  as  retaining  his  inflexibility,  when 
some  degree  of  compliance  was  more  likely  to  preserve  the 
republic.  The  same  censure  has  been  repeated  by  others ; 
but  Cato  was  present  to  the  scene,  had  no  bye-views  to  mis- 
lead him,  and  there  is  not  any  reason  to  prefer  the  judgment 
of  those  who  censure  him  to  his  own.  Cicero  temporized, 
made  the  experiment  of  what  compliance  on  some  occasions 
could  effect,  and  even  nattered  himself  that  he  had  gained 
the  affections  of  Cesar  and  Pompey  to  the  republic,  by 
giving  way  to  the  arts  which  they  employed  to  destroy  it. 

The  natural  antidote  of  vice  is  restraint  and  correction  ; 
but  in  great  disorders,  and  where  the  system  itself  is  cor- 
•upted,  what  is  applied  for  a  remedy  is  sometimes  an  evil, 
as  well  as  the  disease.  They  who  peruse  the  history  of 
florae,  under  the  continued  effects  of  a  revolution,  which  is 
now  accomplished  or  fast  approaching,  will  find  no  cause  to 
congratulate  the  world,  on  its  having  escaped  from  the  fac- 
tions of  Clodius  and  Milo,  to  incur  the  evils  that  arose  under 
Caligula  and  Nero. 

The  impossibility  of  preserving  the  republic,  or  its  unfit- 
ness  to  remain  at  the  head  of  so  great  an  empire,  is  no 
doubt  the  most  plausible  excuse  which  is  made  for  its  sub- 
version ;  but  this  apology  neither  Cesar  nor  Pompey  was 
entitled  to  make  for  himself.  Cesar  affected  a  zeal  for 
popular  government,  and  Pompey  strove  to  inflame  all  its 
evils,  in  order  to  render  himself  necessary  to  the  aristo- 
cracy. Cesar  fomented  political  troubles,  in  order  to 
weaken  the  hands  of  the  senate,  or  in  order  to  find  a  pre- 
tence to  make  war  upon  them  ;  and  at  last,  under  the  show 
of  releasing  the  people  from  the  tyranny  of  that  body,  drew 
that  sword  with  which  he  accomplished  the  ruin  of  both. 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  499 

With  such  citizens  as  the  Gracchi,  as  Apuleius,  as  Marim 
and  Cinna,  Clodius  and  Milo,  it  was  difficult  to  preserve  a 
republic;  but  with  such  citizens  as  Cesar  and  Pompey,  it 
was  altogether  impossible. 

Of  the  two  Cesars,  the  first  possessed  the  talent  of  in- 
fluencing1, of  gaining,  and  employing  men  to  his  purpose, 
beyond  any  other  person  that  is  known  in  the  history  of  the 
world ;  but  it  is  surely  not  for  the  good  of  mankind  that  he 
should  be  admired  in  other  respects.  To  admire  even  his 
clemency,  is  to  mistake  policy  and  cunning  for  humanity. 
The  second  Cesar,  in  the  part  which  he  acted  against  the 
republic,  is  in  jjjany  respects  more  excusable  than  the  first. 
He  entered  the  scene  when  the  piece  was  much  farther 
advanced,  when  his  countrymen  had  submitted  to  mon- 
archy, under  the  title  of  a  perpetual  dictatorship,  and  when 
he  himself  was  considered  as  the  heir  of  a  person  who  had 
possessed  this  pre-eminence.  The  first  Cesar  strove  against 
those  who  endeavoured  to  preserve  their  own  rights  and 
those  of  their  country ;  the  second,  although  he  succeeded 
to  the  same  quarrel,  and  actually  paid  no  respect  to  the  re- 
public, more  than  was  necessary  to  cover  his  design  against 
it,  yet  appears,  more  than  the  first,  in  the  light  of  a  person 
who  strove  only  with  the  rivals  of  his  own  ambition,  and 
with  his  competitors  for  the  succession  of  his  uncle  and 
adoptive  father,  who,  having  declared  Win  the  heir  of  his 
fortune,  gave  him  a  pretence  to  support  the  pre-eminenco 
he  himself  had  gained. 

This  apology,  nevertheless,  though  more  powerful  in  its 
application  to  the  case  of  the  second  Cesar  than  to  that  of 
the  first,  is  very  imperfect  in  its  application  to  either.  If 
Octavius  had  been  educated  under  any  impressions  of  here- 
ditary right  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  republic,  the 
fate  of  the  person  from  whom  he  derived  his  supposed  right, 
and  the  subsequent,  though  temporary,  re-establishment  of 
the  commonwealth,  which  he  witnessed,  and  which  he  pre- 
tended to  approve,  were  sufficient  to  have  undeceived  him. 
Octavius,  liowever,  is  not  perhaps  to  be  tried  so  much  in 
the  capacity  of  a  Roman  citizen  born  to  the  republic,  as  in 

Jiat  of  leader  of  a  party,  born  at  »time  when  the  competi- 
tion for  superiority  was  general,  and  when  sovereignty  or 
death  were  the  alternatives  to  be  chosen  by  persons  of  such 
rank  and  pretensions  as  his  own.  In  tins  capacity  he 
effected  what  his  grand-uncle  and  adoptive  father  had 
taught  him  to  aim  at ;  the  suppression  of  civil  government, 
und  the  removal  of  all  his  own  competitors  for  power. 

As  Pompey,  with  Cato  and  the  principal  supporters  of  tha 
senate,  had  sunk  under  the  first  Cesar;  so  Brutus,  Cassius, 


500  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

and  the  other  restorers  of  the  commonwealth,  with  the 
last  of  the  family  of  Pompey,  sank  under  Octavius,  Antony, 
and  Lepidus ;  and  the  two  last,  in  their  turn,  having  sunk 
under  Octavius,  this  successful  adventurer  now  remains 
sole  commander  of  all  the  armies  of  the  republic,  and  sole 
master  of  all  its  provinces,  from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates 
to  the  sea  of  Britain.     And  the  contest  for  this  mighty 
sovereignty  being  now  at  '»ast  decided,  it  remains  that  w 
observe  what  new  form  tne  world  is  to  receive  under  th 
dominion  of  its  master,  or  what  mighty  harvest  is  to  b 
reaped  by  him  who  is  in  possession  of  the  field,  and  who  i 
now  enabled  to  gather  what  so  many  heroesJiad  sown  o 
planted,  and  what  so  many  pretenders  to  tire  same  objec 
would  have  ravished  or  torn  from  each  other. 

Octavius,  though  inferior  to  his  uncle  in  the  capacity  of 
a  soldier,  being  equally  master  of  every  necessary  artifice, 
had  recourse  to  the  use  of  clemency  when  it  suited  the  state 
of  his  affairs.  His  steps  became  gradually  less  bloody,  from 
4he  first  fatal  proscription  to  the  last  victory  which  he  ob 
tained  over  Antony  ;  and  in  this  he  reversed  the  order  that 
was  observed  by  the  first  Cesar. 

Upon  the  reduction  of  Egypt,  the  victor,  though  pretend- 
ing to  act  in  the  capacity  of  Roman  consul,  did  not,  as  in 
former  times,  refer  to  the  senate  the  arrangements  to  be 
«nade  in  his  conquest ;  nor  did  he  wait  the  formality  of  a 
commission  from  Rome,  authorizing  him  to  settle  the  pro- 
vinces. He  deprived  the  Egyptians  of  all  the  forms  of 
their  monarchy  ;  and,  in  order  to  efface  the  memory  of  their 
national  independence,  and  to  discontinue  pretensions  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  used  to  support  by  tumults 
and  revolts,  he  abolished  all  their  public  assemblies  and 
national  councils.  He  forbade  the  resort  of  Egyptian 
nobles  to  Rome,  and  of  Roman  senators  to  Egypt. 

While  Octavius  made  these  arrangements  in  Egypt,  he 
secured  a  great  treasure ;  and  being,  from  these  funds, 
prepared  to  acquit  himself  of  the  pecuniary  engagements 
fte  had  come  under  to  the  army,  arid  enabled  to  make  don- 
ations to  the  populace  of  Rome,  he  set  out  on  his  return  to 
Italy ;  but  having  stoppedJn  the  island  of  Samos,  while  the 
army  in  separate  divisions  was  moving  to  the  westward, 
he  passed  the  winter  at  this  place,  deferring  his  arrival  at 
Rome  until  the  troops  should  be  assembled,  and  every 
other  circumstance  prepared  for  the  triumphal  entries  he 
meant  to  make  into  the  capital. 

During  his  stay  in  Samos,  the  neighbouring  towns  and 
provinces  vied  with  each  other  in  flattering  and  servile 
demonstrations  of  submission  to  his  person,  and  of  zeal  for 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  RKPUBUC.  501 

his  cause.  In  Italy,  at  the  same  timo,  similar  or  more  im- 
portant tributes  of  adulation  and  servility  were  paid  to  the 
victor.  At  Rome,  all  the  honours  with  which  the  repuMic 
had  been  accustomed  to  reward  the  eminent  service  of  hf  r 
citizens,  had  been  for  some  time  lavished  on  those  who 
were  most  successful  in  subverting  her  government ;  and 
these  honours  were  now  heaped  on  Octavius  with  a  pro- 
fusion proportioned  to  the  ascendant  he  had  gained  by  the 
suppression  of  all  his  competitors.  The  statues  which  had 
been  erected  to  his  rival  Mark  Antony  were  broken  down, 
the  gates  of  Janus  were  ostentatiously  shut,  and  Octavius 
declared  to  be  the  restorer  of  peace  to  the  world. 

On  the  first  of  January,  while  Octavius  was  still  at  Samos, 
he  being  admitted  a  fifth  time  into  the  office  of  consul,  the 
ecnate  and  people  took  an  oath  of  allegiance,  or  in  words 
more  nearly  corresponding  to  the  terms  of  their  language, 
took  an  oath  to  observe  his  acts  and  decrees.  *  They  de- 
clared him  tribune  of  the  people  for  an  unlimited  time,  and 
extended  the  powers  of  this  office  beyond  the  usual  bounds 
of  the  city.  They  ordained  that  from  thenceforward  the 
appeals  usually  made  to  the  people  should  be  made  to  Cesar 
alone ;  and  that,  in  crimin.il  judgments,  what  was  called 
the  vote  of  Minerva,  an  act  of  grace  provided  for  the  par- 
don of  criminals  when  condemned  only  by  a  single  vote  of 
majority,  should  from  thenceforward  be  ascribed  to  him. 
and  consequently  be  termed  the  Mercy,  or  the  Vote  of 
Cesar. 

Octavius  having,  by  his  stay  in  the  island  of  Samos,  given 
sufficient  time  for  the  transportation  of  his  army,  and  the 
other  apparatus  of  his  triumph  into  Italy,  set  out  for  that 
country,  and  in  his  way  visited  the  scene  of  his  late  victory 
at  Actium.  At  Torync,  where  his  own  army  had  hern 
stationed  before  the  engagement,  he  directed  a  city  to  be 
raised  under  the  name  of  Nicopolis.  Upon  his  arrival  at 
Rtxne,  he  exhibited  three  separate  triumphal  processions. 
TLfi  first  for  his  victory  over  the  Panonians,  the  Japydes, 
and  the  Dalmatians  ;  the  second  for  his  victory  at  Actium  ; 
and  the  third  for  the  conquest  of  Egypt.  In  the  first  oi 
these  triumphs  Carinus,  by  whom  the  war  of  lllyricum  had 
been  chiefly  conducted,  was  admitted  to  partake  with  tht 
commander  under  whose  auspices  the  subject  of  triumph 
had  been  gained.  In  the  third  was  exhibited  a  scene,  which, 
for  ridica  and  splendour,  greatly  surpassed  any  of  the 
former,  bring  enriched  with  the  treasure  he  hud  amassed 
in  Egypt,  and  with  various  trophies  constructed  from  the 

*  U.  r.  724. 
11  P 


502  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

spoils  of  that  country.  Among  these  were  carried  th« 
effigy  of  the  late  queen,  followed  by  her  surviving  children, 
who  were  led  as  captives. 

In  this  procession,  the  conqueror  having  passed  to  the 
capitol,  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  sixteen  thousand 
pondi,  or  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  ounces  of  gold, 
with  fifty  millions  in  Roman  money,  or  above  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds  sterling  ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  ceremony 
distributed  a  thousand  sestertii,  or  above  eight  pounds  of 
our  money  a  man  to  the  troops;  and  this,  to  an  army  con- 
sisting of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  amounted 
to  a  sum  of  near  a  million  sterling.  To  the  officers,  besides 
his  pecuniary  bounty,  he  gave  honorary  rewards. 

These  accumulations  and  distributions  of  foreign  spoils 
at  Rome,  or  the  general  expectations  of  prosperous  times, 
produced  great  or  very  sensible  effects  in  raising  the  price 
of  houses,  lands,  and  other  articles  of  sale,  whether  in  Italy 
or  in  the  contiguous  provinces  ;  a  circumstance  which, 
joined  to  the  new  and  strange  appearance  of  the  gates  of 
the  temple  of  Janus  being  shut,  as  a  signal  of  universal 
peace,  made  these  triumphs  of  Octavius  appear  an  era  of 
felicity  and  hope  to  the  empire. 

Oct&yius,  after  indulging  the  people  in  their  disposition 
to  amusemeot  and  dissipation,  gave  the  necessary  attention 
to  his  military  arrangements,  and  took  measures  to  secure 
the  possession  of  that  principal  support,  on  which  sover- 
eignty, in  such  an  empire,  must  be  founded.  The  legions 
assembled  at  Rome,  on  occasion  of  the  late  triumphal  pro- 
cessions, were  now  to  be  distributed  to  what  were  intended 
as  their  ordinary  stations  in  time  of  peace.  Of  these  stations, 
the  principal  were  on  the  Euphrates,  on  the  Rhine,  and  on 
the  Danube ;  but  before  this  distribution  could  be  finally 
made,  some  troubles,  which,  notwithstanding  the  late  sig- 
nal of  general  peace,  still  subsisted  in  some  parts  of  the 
empire,  particularly  on  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine,  in  the 
interior  parts  ot  Spain,  and  on  the  confines  of  Macedonia, 
required  attention. 

The  officers  employed  on  these  different  services,  were 
10  longer,  as  formerly,  supreme  in  their  respective  stations, 
and  accountable  only  to  the  senate  and  people  ;  they  were 
anderstood  to  be  lieutenants  of  a  superior  officer  acting  as 
general  governor  over  all  the  provinces,  and  commander- 
;n- chief  of  Blithe  armies  in  the  empire.  This  supreme 
command  Octavius  held  under  the  well  known  name  of 
imperator,  which  was  usually  given  in  the  field  to  victori- 
ous generals,  and  which  he,  contrary  to  former  practice 
now  retained  even  in  the  city  ;  and,  as  we  shall  have  «y 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  503 

casion  to  observe,  gradually  appropriated  to  himself  and  his 
successors. 

In  the  character  which  Octavius  no\v  assumed,  he 
united,  in  support  of  his  authority,  the  prerogatives  of 
consul,  censor,  and  tribune  of  the  people;  and  thus,  in 
divesting  himself  of  the  name  of  triumvir,  he  affected  to  re- 
establish the  constitution  of  the  republic,  and  to  restore  the 
ordinary  magistrates  and  officers  of  state. 

Several  considerations,  probably,  suggested  to  Octaviua 
the  necessity  of  endeavouring  to  strengthen  his  title.  II 
had  hitherto  kept  possession  of  the  government  under  vari- 
ous pretences ;  but  never  declared  any  intention  to  realize, 
or  to  perpetuate  the  sovereignty  in  his  own  person.  For 
some  time,  he  had  professed  no  more  than  a  desire  to  avenge 
the  death  of  his  relation  Julius  Cesar.  Ne^t,  he  pretended 
to  remove  some  disorders  which  had  crept  into  the  common- 
wealth ;  and,  last  of  all,  to  oppose  the  designs  of  Antony. 

This  last  pretence  being  now  removed,  it  was  become 
necessary  that  Octavius  should  more  fully  explain  himself, 
and  declare  upon  what  footing  he  was  to  hold  the  goveru- 
ment.  Octavius,  having  taken  the  most  effectual  measures 
to  secure  his  power,  still  thought  it  necessary  to  affect  a 
purpose  of  resigning  it,  and  of  restoring  the  republican 
government.  It  is  reported,  that  he  even  held  a  serious 
consultation  on  this  subject  with  his  principal  advisers  and 
confidants,  Agrippa  and  Maecenas.  This  fact  may  be  ques- 
tioned; but  in  a  character  so -entirely  made  up  of  artifice 
and  design,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  he  wished 
to  disguise  his  thoughts  even  to  his  most  intimate  counsel- 
lors, or  to  secure  their  approbation  before  he  disclosed  his 
real  intentions. 

Agrippa  and  Maecenas  are  said  to  have  been  of  different 
opinions  respecting  the  propriety  of  their  master's  resigna- 
tion ;  and  the  question  accordingly,  as  it  was  supposed  to 
be  debated  in  this  famous  council,  has  furnished  a  curious 
theme  to  historians  and  rhetoricians.  Agrippa  encouraged 
Octavius  to  persist  in  his  supposed  intention  to  resign  his 
power,  and  supported  this  opinion,  by  stating  the  advan- 
tages of  republican  government ;  while  Maecenas  took  the 
opposite  side,  and  contended  for  the  necessity  of  a  now 
species  of  government,  in  circumstances  so  different  from 
those  in  which  the  republic  had  been  formed. 

In  the  result  of  this  consultation,  it  is  said,  that  not  only 
Octavius,  but  Agrippa  likewise,  embraced  the  opinion  of 
Maecenas ;  and  that  they,  from  thenceforward,  considered 
the  secure  establishment  of  the  monarchy  as  the  common 
object  of  all  their  councils.  They  appear  to  have  agreed, 


504  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

that  Octavius  should  treat  the  senate  as  he  had  in  this  con- 
ference treated  his  friends;  that  he  should  propose  to 
resign  his  power,  affect  to  make  his  continuing  to  hold  it 
the  result  of  their  own  deliberations,  and,  by  these  means, 
obtain  the  sanction  of  a  legal  establishment. 

To  smooth  the  way  to  this  end,  some  previous  steps  were 
yet  to  be  taken.  The  senate,  on  whose  readily  embracing 
and  acting  the  part  that  was  expected  from  them  the  whole 
depended,  was  to  be  scrutinized  and  purged  of  all  members, 
who  were,  by  their  love  of  republican  government,  or  by 
any  other  circumstances,  likely  to  mar  the  design.*  la 
order  to  cultivate  the  dispositions  with  which  he  already 
endeavoured  to  inspire  the  senate  and  the  people,  he  him  • 
self,  in  conjunction  with  Agrippa,  entered  on  the  office  of 
consul  for  the  sixth  time,  and  divided  the  fasces  with  him, 
as  usual  in  the  purest  times  of  the  republic.  In  proceeding 
to  their  principal  object,  which  was  to  reform  the  senate, 
they  made  a  review  or  census,  as  usual,  of  all  the  different 
orders  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  having,  in  consequence  of 
the  late  troubles,  much  property  as  well  as  public  honours 
in  their  power,  they  had  an  opportunity  to  enrich,  as  well 
as  to  promote  those  whom  they  wished  to  oblige ;  and  ac- 
cordingly made  such  a  distribution  of  estates  and  dignities, 
as  plainly  showed,  that  obsequiousness  to  the  will  of  Cesar 
was  the  road  to  distinction  and  fortune. 

At  this  census  or  review  of  the  people,  the  Roman  citi- 
zens were  found  to  amount  to  four  million  one  hundred 
and  sixty-four  thousand  men  fit  to  carry  arms.f  So  much 
had  their  number,  without  any  increase  of  population, 
augmented  by  the  continual  admission  of  the  freemen  of 
entire  towns  and  provinces,  upon  the  rolls  of  the  people. 
The  senate  consisted  now  of  persons  occasionally  intruded 
by  the  parties  lately  contending  for  superiority;  many,  in 
particular,  named  by  Antony,  and  who,  during  the  late 
struggles,  endeavoured  to  support  the  cause  of  their  patron. 
These,  more  especially,  it  was  the  object  of  Octavius  to 
remove ;  but  being  desirous  to  court  all  orders  of  men,  as 
well  as  to  set  aside  his  enemies,  he  affected  a  reluctance  in 
expelling  particular  persons,  and  recommended  to  those, 
who  were  conscious  of  any  disqualification,  voluntarily  to 
withdraw  their  names.  In  consequence  of  this  intimation, 
fifty  senators  retired,  probably  most  of  them  conscious  of  a 
disaffection  to  the  reigning  power.  One  hundred  and  forty 


•  U.  C.  725. 

t  The  whole  number  of  souls  must  have  exceeded  sixteen  millk 
Euiebii  Chronicon. 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  505 

more  were  struck  off  the  rolls.  In  discharging  this  invidi- 
ous service,  Oftavius  was  guarded  by  ten  chosen  senators, 
who  surrounded  his  person  with  concealed  weapons,  and  is 
said  himself  to  have  been  cased  in  armour  under  his  robe. 
He,  at  the  same  time,  under  pretence  of  rendering  the 
order  itself  more  independent  and  more  respectable,  raised 
the  money  qualification  of  a  senator  from  eight  to  twelve 
hundred  thousand  sesterces;*  and,  without  any  persona 
imputation,  affected  to  exclude  some  senators  for  the  want 
of  this  new  qualification,  while  he  contrived  to  gain  others 
by  making  up  the  deficiency  in  their  fortune  from  his  own 
coffers. 

At  this  period  Octavlus  paid  special  attention  to  the  peo- 
ple in  their  usual  vices  of  idleness  and  dissipation ;  he  also 
avoided  laying  any  new  burdens,  cancelled  all  arrears  due 
to  the  treasury  within  the  city,  and  increased  fourfold  the 
gratuitous  distributions  of  corn.  To  these  popular  arts, 
he  joined  a  species  of  amnesty  of  all  past  offences  and  dif- 
ferences ;  repealed  all  the  acts,  which,  during  the  late  vio- 
lent times,  the  spirit  of  party  had  dictated  ;  and,  to  quiet  the 
apprehensions  of  many,  who  were  conscious  of  having 
taken  part  with  his  enemies,  he  gave  out  that  all  papers  or 
records  seized  in  Egypt,  upon  the  final  reduction  of  Antony's 
party,  were  destroyed. 

At  the  close  of  this  memorable  consulate,  Octavius  laid 
down  the  fasces,  and,  agreeable  to  the  forms  of  the  repub- 
lic, took  the  usual  oath  of  declaration,  that  he  had  faithfully, 
and  with  his  utmost  ability,  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
station. f  Being  destined  to  the  same  office  of  consul  for 
the  following  year,  he  resumed  the  ensigns  of  power  ;  and 
thinking  the  senate  and  people,  by  the  steps  he  had  already 
taken,  sufficiently  prepared  for  the  subject  he  meant  to 
bring  under  consideration,  he,  on  the  Ides,  or  thirteenth  of 
January,  surprised  them  with  a  direct  and  full  resignation 
of  all  the  extraordinary  powers  which  he  held  in  the  empire. 
This  solemn  act  he  accompanied  with  a  speech,  which,  ac- 
cording to  his  usual  practice,  having  committed  to  writing, 
he  read.  Being  sensible  that  his  sincerity  would  be  ques- 
tioned, and  that  his  having  taken  the  most  effectual 
measures  to  obtain  and  secure  the  government  was  but  an 
ill  indication  of  his  intention  to  resign  it,  he  employed  a 
great  part  of  his  harangue  in  removing  suspicions,  not 
merely  by  assurances  of  sincerity,  but  by  arguments  like- 
wise drawn  from  general  topics  of  probability  and  reason. 

As  soon  as  this  speech  was  ended,  notwithstanding  tha 

*  Prom  about  7006*.  to  10.000/.  t  U.  C.  728. 


506  HISTORY  O*  THE  [B.  VI. 

many  evils  which  had  been  recently  felt  under  the  republic, 
it  is  probable,  that  if  Octavius  had  appeared  to  be  sincere  iu 
making  it,  his  proposal  to  restore  the  commonwealth  would 
have  been  received  with  joy.  The  majority  of  the  meeting, 
however,  was  surprised  and  perplexed.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  that  Octaviua  wished  to  have  his  proposal  rejected ; 
but  it  would  have  been  an  ill  manner  of  paying  court,  to  ap- 
pear to  have  seen  his  design.  It  was  necessary  to  affect  im- 
plicit faith  in  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose,  and  at  the  same  time 
withstand  the  execution  of  it  in  a  peremptory  manner. 
This  ground  being  pointed  out  by  those  who  were  in  con- 
cert, or  by  those  who  had  discernment  enough  to  perceive  it, 
was  instantly  seized  by  the  whole  assembly.  They  be- 
seeched  Octavius,  as  with  one  voice,  not  to  abandon  the 
commonwealth ;  observed,  that  services,  still  greater  than 
those  he  had  already  performed,  were  yet  due  to  the  re- 
public; that  the  fear  of  his  intending  to  resign  the  govern- 
ment, had  already  filled  the  minds  of  the  people  with  a  cruel 
anxiety  ;  that  he  alone  could  quiet  their  apprehensions,  by 
not  only  remaining  at  the  head  of  the  empire,  but  by 
accepting  the  government  in  such  a  formal  manner,  as 
would  give  them  assurance  of  his  continuing  to  hold  it. 

To  this  request  Octavius  was  inexorable;  but  he  was 
prevailed  upon  not  to  lay  the  whole  load  of  administration 
at  once  on  the  senate.  He  was  willing  to  administer  some 
part  of  the  government  for  a  limited  time,  and  to  retain  the 
command  of  the  army  for  ten  years.  He  agreed  to  take 
charge  of  such  provinces  on  the  frontier,  as,  being  conti- 
guous to  warlike  and  hostile  neighbours,  were  exposed  to 
frequent  invasion  ;  but  such  as  were  already  pacific,  and 
accustomed  to  civil  forms,  such  as  were  reconciled  to  the 
tribute  which  they  paid,  he  insisted  that  the  senate,  as  the 
more  easy  and  profitable  part  of  the  government,  should 
take  under  their  own  administration. 

By  this  imaginary  partition  of  the  empire,  the  provinces 
which  in  Africa  had  formed  the  states  of  Carthage  and 
Cyrene,  with  the  kingdom  of  Numidia ; — in  Europe,  the 
more  wealthy  and  pacific  parts  of  Spain,  the  islands  of  Sar- 
dinia, Sicily,  and  Crete;  with  the  different  districts  of 
Greece,  Epirus,  Macedonia,  and  Dalmatia ;  and  beyond  the 
JEgean  sea,  the  rich  province  of  Asia,  with  the  kingdoms 
of  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  were  committed  to  the  j  urisdictiou 
of  the  senate. 

The  emperor  still  retained,  under  his  own  immediate 
•barge,  the  more  wariiite  districts  in  Spain,  in  Gaul,  and  in 
Byria,  Avith  thekingaam  of  Egypt,  and  all  the  great  military 
•tutiona  and  resorts  of  the  legions  on  the  Euphrates.  tta» 


CH.  I.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  607 

Danube,  and  the  Rhine.  Some  time  afterwards,  under 
pretence  of  a  war  which  ar.ise  in  Dalmatia,  he  accepted  of 
this  province,  in  exchange  for  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  the 
district  of  Narbonne. 

It  was  understood  that  the  emperor  and  the  senate  in 
their  quality  of  partners  in  the  sovereignty,  should  have  the 
nomination  of  governors  in  their  respective  provinces ;  that 
those  named  by  the  senate  should  be  civil  officers  merely, 
with  the  title  of  proconsul,  but  without  the  power  of  the 
s \vord  or  any  military  rank,  and  they  were  not  to  remain 
in  office  longer  than  one  year,  that  the  officers  to  be  named 
by  the  emperor  were  to  have  military  rank,  with  the  title  of 
propretor,  and  were  to  act  in  the  capacity  of  his  lieuten- 
ants, accountable  only  to  himself,  and  to  hold  their  commis- 
sions during  his  pleasure.  The  provinces  of  the  Roman 
empire  had  been  hitherto  not  so  much  the  demesne  of  the 
commonwealth,  as  the  property  of  private  citizens,  by  whom 
they  were  conveyed  from  one  to  another  by  quick  succession. 
As  they  were  received  in  trust  for  the  republic,  without 
any  particular  assignment  of  a  share  in  the  profits,  great 
part  was  diverted  to  private  uses,  or  where  great  sums 
were  to  be  accounted  for  to  the  state,  there  was  much  ex- 
torted likewise  to  enrich  individuals  by  peculation  and 
oppression.  From  their  stations  abroad,  the  officers  of  the 
republic  returned  with  the  spoils  of  the  provinces  to  purchase 
importance  at  Rome.  If  they  were  frequently  changed,  the 
empty  hand  was  often  held  out  with  fresh  rapacity,  and  the 
full  one  brought  back  with  quicker  succession  to  corrupt 
the  city  ;  if  continued  too  long,  they  acquired  the  force  of 
great  monarehs,  got  possession  of  armies  and  of  revenue, 
and  had  sufficient  resources  of  men  and  money  to  enable 
them  to  make  war  on  the  state.  The  republic  had  often 
tottered  under  the  effect  of  disorders  which  arose  in  the 
capital,  but  fell  irrecoverably  under  the  blows  that  were 
struck  from  the  provinces. 

It  is  evident  that  the  head  of  the  empire,  of  whatever 
description,  whether  a  commonwealth  or  the  court  of  a 
monarch,  could  not  be  safe  under  this  distribution  of  power 
and  trust.  Measures  were  accordingly  now  taken  by  Oc- 
tavius  to  reform  the  establishment,  and  to  reduce  the  pro- 
vincial officers  to  their  proper  state  of  subordination  aad 
dependence.  The  duties  they  were  to  levy,  and  their  own 
emoluments,  were  clearly  ascertained.  The  greater  pro- 
vinces were  divided,  and  separate  officers  appointed  to  each 
division.  Neither  men  nor  money  were  to  be  levied  with- 
out authority  from  the  emperor  and  the  senate,  nor  was 
any  officer,  to  whom  a  successor  was  appointed,  to  remain 


508  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

in  his  command,  or  to  absent  himself  froM  Rome  aborc 
three  months.  To  secure  the  observance  of  these  regu- 
lations, and  to  accelerate  the  communication  from  ever; 
part  of  the  empire,  an  institution,  resembling  that  of  the 
modern  posts,  was  for  the  first  time  introduced  in  the  ancient 
world. — Couriers  were  placed  at  convenient  stages ;  with 
orders  to  forward  from  one  to  the  other  the  public 
despatches.  It  was  afterwards  thought  more  effectual,  for 
the  purpose  of  intelligence,  to  transport  the  original  mes- 
senger to  Rome. 

The  senate,  in  return  to  the  emperor's  gracious  accep- 
tance of  the  government,  proceeded  to  distinguish  his  person, 
and  even  the  place  of  his  residence,  by  many  honorary 
decrees.  They  took  into  their  serious  consideration,  by 
what  title  he  should  for  the  future  be  known.  The  title  of 
Augustus  was  accepted  by  him,  rather  as  an  expression  of 
personal  respect,  than  as  a  mark  of  any  new  or  unprece- 
dented dignity  in  the  commonwealth. 

Octavius  from  henceforward  came  to  be  known  by  the 
name  of  Augustus.  He  had  been  some  time  the  object  of 
fear,  and  consequently  of  adulation  to  the  people,  and  was 
now  probably  become  the  object  of  that  fond  admiration 
with  which  the  bulk  of  mankind  regard  those  who  are 
greatly  elevated  by  fortune.  Under  the  effect  of  this  senti- 
ment, or  supported  by  the  prevalence  of  it,  citizens  of  high 
rank  took  an  oath  to  interpose  their  persons  in  all  his  dan- 
gers, and  if  he  must  die,  to  perish  with  him  ;  the  dying,  under 
pretence  of  bequeathing  some  legacy  to  Augustus,  intro- 
duced his  name  in  their  wills,  with  a  lavish  encomium  or 
nattering  character. 


State  o/tne  Emperor— Condition  of  the  Empire— Amount  oj  [fie  Revenu* 
unknown — Military  Ettallishmentt,  ffc. 

IN  what  degree  the  court  which  began  to  be  paid  to  Augus- 
tus, and  which  continued  during  his  reign  proceeded  from 
design  and  servility,  or  respect  and  affection,  we  must 
endeavour  to  collect  from  a  farther  view  of  his  life,  and 
must  suspend  our  judgment  until  the  scene  of  his  trial  is 
passed.  At  the  late  formal  establishment  of  the  monarchy 
in  his  person,  he  was  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and 
had  still  the  aspect  of  youth.  His  complexion  is  said  to 
have  been  fair,  his  eyes  bright,  and  hh  features  resrular  and 


Ca.  11.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  509 

elegant.  He  was  well  made  in  his  person,  and  though 
below  the  middle  stature,  had  so  much  the  proportions  of 
H  tall  man,  as,  except  when  compared  with  some  person 
who  overlooked  him,  to  appear  above  the  ordinary  size. 
Two-and-twenty  years  of  a  life  so  little  advanced,  he  had 
passed  in  the  midst  of  civil  wars,  and  in  the  contest  for 
empire,  which  was  begun  by  his  adoptive  father,  and  main- 
tained and  conducted  to  a  favourable  termination  by  him- 
self. 

Being  victorious  in  that  contest,  Octavius  became  sove- 
reign of  the  Roman  empire  at  the  age  of  three-and-thirty 
years,  the  same  age  at  which  Alexander,  with  the  greatest 
efforts  of  ability  and  courage,  which  were  afterwards  marred 
by  equal  instances  of  intemperance  and  folly,  effected  the 
conquest  of  the  Persian  monarchy.  Much,  no  doubt,  in  the 
fortunes  of  men,  is  to  be  imputed  to  accident.  To  this  they 
<>\ve,  at  least,  great  part  of  the  occasions  on  which  they  act ; 
but  the  use  of  the  occasion,  and  sometimes  a  preparation  of  it, 
is  their  own ;  and  nothing  besides  the  most  consummate  abi- 
lities can,  through  a  great  variety  of  scenes,  retain  the  uni- 
form appearance  of  a  fortunate  life.  Octavius,  with  the 
same  address  with  which  he  supplanted  every  rival  in  the 
contest  for  power,  continued  to  avoid  every  offensive 
appearance  in  the  model  of  his  government.  He  still  re- 
tained the  forms  of  the  commonwealth ;  and,  besides  the 
title  of  Augustus,  did  not  introduce  any  new  appellation  of 
dignity  or  of  office.*  Every  possible  power  under  the  re- 
public had  been  implied  in  the  titles  of  consul,  censor,  augur, 
pontiff,  and  tribune  of  the  people.  In  the  character  of  con- 
sul, the  new  emperor  presided  in  the  senate,  and  was  first 
executive  magistrate  in  the  city.  In  the  character  of  tri- 
bune he  could  not  only  suspend  all  proceedings,  whether  of 
administration,  of  public  council,  or  of  justice  ;  but  likewise 
could  punish  with  instant  death  any  breach  of  the  peace,  or 
any  attempt  that  was  made  on  his  own  person.  In  the 
capacity  of  censor,  which  was  now  comprehended  in  the 
office  of  consul,  he  was  the  fountain  of  honour,  could  pry 
into  every  citizen's  private  life,  and  could  promote  or  dc- 

*  The  title  of  Princcpt  had  been  usually  given  to  the  person  whose 
^ame  was  first  in  the  rolls  of  the  senate,  and  Augustus  assumed  it  in 
no  other  sense  than  this  ;  that  of  Imptrator  had  been  given  to  every 
successful  leader  of  an  army,  and  in  its  application  '•>  Octavius,  im- 
plied no  pre-eminence  above  what  orher  leaders  had  loimerly  enjoyed. 
These  titles,  indeed,  by  being  from  henceforward  appropriated  to  the 
sovereign,  acquired,  by  degrees,  their  significance  in  the  original 
language  ;  and  in  our  translation  of  them  into  1'rince  and  Kmperor,  ar« 
applied  only  to  royal  persons,  and  the  sovereigns  of  extensive  do- 
minion. 

Ss 


510  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

grade,  at  pleasur»,  every  person  who  had  courted  his 
favour,  or  incurred  his  dislike.  In  the  capacity  of  augur 
and  pontiff  he  could  overrule  the  superstition  of  the  times  ; 
and,  last  of  all,  in  the  capacity  of  imperator,  or  head  of  the 
army,  he  held,  at  his  disposal,  all  the  forces  of  the  empire, 
bothjby  sea  and  by  land.  The  republic,  at  the  same  time, 
retained  most  of  its  forms.  There  were  meetings  of  the 
senate,  and  assemblies  of  the  people  ;  there  were  laws 
enacted,  and  elections  made ;  affairs  proceeded  as  usual  in 
the  name  of  the  consul,  the  censor,  the  augur,  and  tribune 
of  the  people.  The  only  change  which  happened,  and  that 
which  the  emperor  endeavoured  to  disguise,  was,  that  he 
himself  acted  in  all  these  capacities,  dictating  every  re- 
solution in  the  senate,  and  pointing  out  every  candidate  who 
was  to  succeed  in  the  pretended  elections. 

The  apparent  respect  which,  under  the  present  establish- 
ment, was  paid  to  civil  forms  implied  no  abatement  of  th*» 
military  power.  On  the  contrary,  instead  of  weakening, 
it  served  to  support,  as  usual,  the  authority  of  that  govern- 
ment, under  which  these  lorms  were  observed.  By  natter- 
ing the  people  with  an  idea  that  tneir  political  consequence 
was  still  entire,  this  seniDlance  of  the  ancient  republic 
reconciled  them  to  the  state  of  degradation  into  which  they 
were  fallen.  It  vested  the  emperor  himself  with  a  species 
of  civil  character,  and  with  a  political  consideration  which 
he  could  employ  in  support  of  his  military  power,  and  which, 
in  some  measure,  secured  him  against  the  caprice  of  troops, 
who  might  think  themselves  entitled  to  subvert  what  they 
alone  had  established. 

This  was  prob.ibly  the  whole  amount  of  the  political 
establishment  now  made  by  Octavius,  and  which  he  meant 
to  employ  as  a  stock  on  which  to  ingraft  his  military  power. 
Thtt  senate  and  assemblies  of  the  people  were  retained  only 
in  name,  and  were  far  from  having  the  energy  of  collateral 
members  in  the  government,  such  as  could  check  or  control 
the  perpetual  executive,  which  was  now  established  in  the 
empire :  but  we  shall  nevertheless  be  disappointed,  if,  upon 
a  supposition  of  absolute  power  in  the  emperor,  we  expect, 
in  his  court,  the  splendour  and  magnificence  of  royalty. 
Octavius  still  lived  in  the  house  of  Hortensius,  a  Roman 
senator,  which  he  occupied  without  making  any  addition  to 
it,  either  in  point  of  dimension  or  ornament.  The  equi- 
page, retinue,  or  accommodation  of  the  imperial  family  was 
not  composed  for  show  and  magnificence,  as  in  monarchies 
long  established.  The  emperor  indeed  was  attended  with  an 
armed  guard  ;  but  this  was  intended  for  safety,  and  not  for 
parade  He  preserved,  in  his  own  person,  the  exterior  ap- 


Ca.  II.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  511 

pearances  of  a  citizen,  was  accostnd  by  the  simple  name  of 
Cesar,  took  his  place  in  the  senate,  in  the  theatre,  in  the 
puhlic  assembly,  on  the  bench  of  judges.  At  funerals  he 
pronounced  the  oration  that  was  delivered  in  honour  of  the 
dead ;  and  even  at  the  bar  appeared  in  behalf  of  his  clients. 
The  females  of  his  house  preserved  the  virtue  of  notable 
housewives,  and  fabricated,  with  their  o\vn  hands,  the 
start's  which  he  wore  in  his  dress. 

If  in  this  account  of  the  sovereign's  person  and  state  our 
expectations  of  grandeur  are  not  fulfilled,  his  dominions 
will  surpass  the  highest  and  most  enlarged  conception  we 
can  form  of  their  greatness.  The  Koman  empire  contained 
within  itself,  and  in  a  very  entire  and  populous  condition., 
what  had  been  the  seat  or  territory  of  many  famous  repub- 
lics and  extensive  empires,  or  what  has  since,  in  modern 
times,  upon  the  revival  of  nations,  furnished  their  posses- 
sions to  no  less  considerable  states  and  great  monarchies. 
It  seemed  to  comprehend,  within  itself,  all  the  most  favour- 
able parts  of  the  earth ;  at  least,  those  parts  on  which  the 
human  species,  whether  by  the  effects  of  climate,  or  the 
qualities  of  the  race,  have,  in  respect  to  ingenuity  and 
courage,  possessed  a  distinguished  superiority.  It  extended 
to  a  variety  of  climates,  and  contained  lands  diversified  in 
respect  to  situation  and  soil,  distributing  the  productions  of 
nature  and  art,  so  as  to  render  its  different  divisions  mutu- 
ally useful  and  subservient  to  each  other.  The  communi- 
cation between  these  parts,  though  remote,  was  easy,  amd 
by  a  sea  which,  with  the  species  of  shipping  then  in  use, 
and  with  the  measure  of  skill  which  the  mariner  then  pos- 
sessed, could  be  easily  navigated.  The  Mediterranean  be- 
ing received  into  the  bosom  of  this  empire,  gave  to  the 
whole  a  greater  extent  of  coast,  and  to  the  inland  parts  a« 
easier  access  to  navigation,  than  couid  be  obtained  by  any 
different  distribution  of  its  land  and  water.  In  consequence 
of  this  circumstance,  the  coasts  of  the  Roman  empire,  with- 
out measuring  minutely  round  the  indentures  of  creeks  and 
promontories,  and  even  without  including  the  outline  of 
of  some  considerable  as  well  as  many  smaller  islands,  may 
be  computed  at  thirteen  thousand  miles. 

In  forming  this  mighty  dominion,  the  republic  had  united, 
under  its  territories,  all  the  principal  seats  of  industry  then 
known  in  the  western  world,  had  come  into  possession  ot 
All  tlu>  seaports  the  most  famous  for  shipping,  and  for  the 
residence  of  merchants  who  had  conducted  the  carrying 
trade  of  the  world.  But,  iu  making  these  acquisitions,  the 
capital  of  the  empire  had  been  a  place  of  urms,  and  a  mere 
nursery  of  statesmen  junl  \\arriors  more  occupied  with  tli« 


612  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

ideas  of  spoil  and  further  conquest,  than  with  the  attentions 
necessary  to  promote  the  industry  or  the  prosperity  of  the 
nations  subjected  to  its  power.  And  it  is  probable  that 
the  Romans^  in  reducing-  so  many  separate  nations  to  th6 
condition  of  provinces,  greatly  impaired  the  sources  of 
wealth,  at  the  same  time  that  they  suppressed  the  preten- 
sions to  independence  and  national  freedom. 

It  were,  no  doubt,  matter  of  curiosity  to  know  the  whole 
amount  of  a  revenue  collected  from  so  rich  and  so  extensive 
a  territory ;  but  we  are  deprived  of  this  satisfaction  by  the 
silence  of  historians,  or  by  the  loss  of  records  in  which  this 
subject  was  stated.  Vespasian  was  heard  to  say,  That  a 
sum,  supposed  equal  to  about  three  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  sterling1,  was  required  annually  to  support  the 
imperial  establishment.  But  as  this  sum  is  beyond  the 
bounds  of  credibility,  and  must  lead  us  to  suspect  a  mistake 
in  the  numbers,  it  will  not  enable  us  to  form  any  probable 
Conjecture  of  the  truth. 

Under  the  establishment  now  made  by  Augustus,  con- 
quests were  discontinued,  or  became  less  frequent ;  and  the 
returns  made  to  the  treasury,  from  the  spoil  of  enemies, 
failed  in  proportion  ;  but  the  avidity  of  receiving-  presents, 
the  worst  form  under  which  extortion  can  be  exercised, 
was  still  indulged,  and,  as  in  every  other  despotical  gov- 
ernment, became  a  considerable  engine  of  oppression.  The 
Romans,  in  continuing  the  taxes  which  they  found  al- 
ready established  in  the  countries  they  had  conquered,  or 
by  imposing  such  new  ones  as  suited  their  own  character 
as  conquerors,  set  examples  of  every  species  almost  that  is 
known  in  the  history  of  mankind.  They  levied  customs  at 
seaports,  excises  on  many  articles  of  consumption,  and  a 
considerable  capitation  or  poll-tax,  in  which  they  made  no 
distinction  of  rank  or  fortune.  These  modes  of  taxation, 
already  known  under  the  republic,  and  various  in  different 
provinces,  now  began  to  be  regulated  upon  the  maxims  of 
a  general  policy,  extending  over  the  whole  empire.  Some 
of  the  burdens  laid  by  Octavius,  as  that  which  was  imposed 
on  the  value  of  goods  exposed  to  sale,  were  charged  directly 
for  the  benefit  of  the  army  as  a  fund  for  the  discharge  of 
their  pay,  or  an  immediate  supply  for  their  subsistence 
or  clothing ;  and  by  this  sort  of  impropriation  were  un- 
alterably fixed.  The  country  where  any  troops  were 
quartered,  was  charged,  for  their  use,  with  supplies  of 
straw,  forage,  carriages,  corn,  bread,  provisions,  and  even 
clothing. 

From  such  particulars,  we  may  form  some  conception  of 
the  mode  and  tendency  of  Roman  taxation,  although  we 


Ca.  II.]  ROMAN"  REPUBLIC.  51,3 

have  no  certain  accounts,  or  even  probable  conjecture,  of 
the  amount  of  the  whole. 

Three  capital  fleets  were  stationed  by  Augustus  for  the 
uecurity  of  the  coasts  ;  one  at  llavenna,  near  the  bottom  01 
the  Hadriatic  Gulf;  one  at  Forum  Julii,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  peninsula ;  and  a  third  at  Misenum,  the  prin- 
cipal promontory  or  headland  of  Campania.  Besides  these, 
there  were  numbers  of  armed  vessels  destined  to  ply  in  all 
tlic  gulfs  and  navigable  rivers  throughout  the  empire. 

The  ordinary  military  establishment  consisted  of  about 
tive-and-forty  legions,  besides  cavalry  and  city  and  provin- 
cial troops.  The  whole,  reckoning  each  legion,  with  its 
attendants  and  officers,  at  six  thousand  men,  and  making  a 
reasonable  allowance  for  cavalry,  may  have  amounted  to 
three  hundred  thousand.  Of  the  manner  in  which  this 
army  was  distributed,  the  following  particulars  only  are 
mentioned :  on  the  Rhine  there  were  stationed  eight  le- 
gions ;  on  the  Danube,  two ;  on  the  frontiers  of  Syria, 
four ;  in  Spain,  three ;  in  Africa,  in  Egypt,  in  Mysia,  and 
Dalmatia,  each  two  legions  ;  in  the  eity  were  nine,  or,  ac- 
cording to  others,  ten  cohorts,  in  the  capacity  of  guards,  or 
pretorian  bands,  to  attend  the  person  of  the  emperor ;  and, 
together  with  these,  three  cohorts  of  a  thousand  men  each, 
intended  as  a  city  watch,  to  be  employed  in  preserving  the 
peace,  in  extinguisliing  fires,  and  in  suppressing  any  other 
occasional  disorder. 

For  the  farther  security  of  the  empire,  considerable  ter- 
ritories on  the  frontier,  which  might  Have  .been  easily 
occupied  by  the  Roman  arms,  were  suffered  to  remain  in 
the  possession  of  allies,  dependent  princes,  or  free  cities  and 
republican  states,  who,  owing  their  safety  to  the  support  of 
the  Roman  power,  formed  a  kind  of  barrier  against  its  ene- 
mies, were  vigilant  to  observe,  and  ready  to  oppose  every 
attempt  of  invasion,  and  were  prepared  to  co-operate  with 
the  Roman  armies,  and  to  support  them  with  stores  and  pro- 
visions as  oft  as  they  had  occasion  to  act  in  their  neighbour- 
hood. Thus  the  kings  of  Mauritania,  of  the  Bosphorus,  of 
the  Lesser  and  Greater  Armenia,  of  Cappadocia,  Com- 
magene,  Galatia,  and  Pamphilia,  with  Paplila^onia,  Colchis, 
ind  Judea,  together  with  the  republican  status  of  Rhodes, 
Cyrene,  Pisidia,  and  Lycia,  acted  under  the  denomination  of 
alliest  us  advanced  parties  on  the  frontiers  of  the  empire, 
and  encouraged  by  the  prospect  of  a  powerful  support,  were 
ready  to  withstand  every  enemy  by  whom  their  own  peace, 
or  that  of  the  Romans,  was  likely  to  be  disturbed. 


514  HISTORY  OF  THh  [B.  VI. 


CHAP.  III. 

The  Family  and  Court  of  Augustus — His  pretended  Resignation  of  tht 
Empire  renewed — The  exercise  of  his  Power  becomes  less  disguised — 
Death  of  Agrippa. 

IN  the  Roman  empire,  thus  subjected  to  a  monarch,  though 
planted  with  races  of  men  the  most  famed  for  activity  and 
vigour,  it  has  been  observed,  that  the  materials  of  history 
became  less  frequent  and  less  interesting  than  they  had  been 
in  the  times  of  the  republic,  while  confined  to  much  nar- 
rower bounds.  Under  the  dominion  of  a  single  person,  all 
the  interesting  exertions  of  the  national,  the  political,  and 
the  military  spirit  over  great  parts  of  the  earth  were  sup- 
pressed. Even  in  the  capital  of  the  world,  so  lately  agi- 
tated with  every  difference  of  opinion  or  interference  of 
interests,  the  operations  of  government  itself  were  become 
silent  and  secret.  Matters  of  public  concern,  considered 
as  the  affairs  of  an  individual,  were  adjusted  to  his  con- 
veniency,  and  directed  by  his  passions,  or  by  those  of  his 
family,  relations,  or  domestics.  The  list  of  such  persons 
accordingly,  with  their  characters,  dispositions,  and  for- 
tunes, make  a  principal  part  in  the  subsequent  history  of 
this  mighty  empire. 

Augustus  still  continued  to  employ  Maecenas  and  Agrippa 
as  the  chief  instruments  of  Ms  government.  To  their  abili- 
ties and  conduct,  in  their  respective  departments,  he  in  a 
great  measure  owed  the  prosperous  state  of  his  affairs.  He 
likewise  persevered  in  his  attachment  to  "Livia,  whose 
separation  from  her  former  husband  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. Together  with  the  mother,  he  received  into  his 
family  her  two  sons,  Tiberius  and  Drusus.  Of  these 
Tiberius,  born  in  the  year  of  the  battle  of  Philippi,  was 
now  about  twelve  years  old ;  Drusus,  of  whom  she  was 
pregnant  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  Octavius,  an«l 
whom  she  brought  forth  about  three  months  afterwards, 
was  now  about  seven  years  old. 

The  emperor  having  no  children  by  Livia,  had  offspring 
only  a  daughter,  famous  by  the  name  of  Julia,  born  to  him 
by  Scribonia,  the  relation  of  Sextus  Pompeius,  with  whom 
lie  had  contracted  a  marriage  of  political  conveniency,  and 
of  short  duration.  Next  to  this  daughter,  in  point  of 
consanguinity,  were  his  sister  Octavia,  the  widow,  first  of 
Marcelius,  and  afterwards  of  Antony,  with  her  children  by 
both  her  husbands.  Among  these  were,  by  her  first  bu»- 


CH.  111.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  515 

band,  Marcella,  married  to  Agrippa,  ainl  tho  young-  Mar- 
ciellus,  who  being-  married  to  the  emperor's  daughter  Julia, 
was  looked  upon  as  the  undoubted  representative  of  the 
Octavian  and  Julian  families,  and  heir  to  the  fortunes  of 
Cesar. 

The  establishment  now  made  by  Augustus  has  nearly 
completed  the  revolution  of  which  it  was  proposed  to  give 
;m  account.  The  despotism,  though  exercised  under  tlu> 
name  of  republic,  and  in  the  form  of  a  temporary  and  legal 
institution,  being  in  reality  absolute,  and  without  any  qua- 
lification of  mixed  government,  it  could  not  be  doubted  that 
the  same  powers  would  be  continued  after  the  period  for 
which  they  were  now  granted  should  expire,  and  that  the 
empire,  for  the  future,  must  for  ever  submit  to  the  head  of 
the  army. 

The  peace  which  immediately  followed  the  victories  ob- 
tained on  the  coast  of  Epirus  and  in  Egypt,  was  the  cir- 
cumstance on  which  Augustus  chiefly  relied  for  the  recom- 
mendation of  his  government,  and  he  seems,  from  inclina- 
tion as  well  as  policy,  to  have  early  entertained  a  maxim 
favourable  to  peace  with  foreign  nations,  and  which  he 
afterwards  openly  inculcated,  that  the  bounds  of  the  empire 
should  not  be  extended.  In  his  first  plan  of  operations 
communicated  to  the  senate,  he  expressed  his  disposition 
to  acquiesce  in  the  present  extent  of  the  empire ;  but  it  was 
necessary  to  secure  the  frontier  from  invasions,  and  to 
ascertain,  though  not  to  extend,  its  bounds.  Soon  after  his 
new  model  of  government  was  established,  he  took  mea- 
sures accordingly  to  repress  the  disorder  which  subsisted 
in  some  of  the  provinces,  and  to  reduce  to  obedience  some 
cantons  on  which  the  state  had  already  a  claim  of  sove- 
reignty, though  not  fully  acknowledged.  He  proceeded  to 
punish  others,  who  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  wars, 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  general  distraction  of  the  em- 
pire to  resume  their  independency,  or  to  make  war  on  the 
Roman  settlements.  He  had  examples  of  both  sorts  to  con- 
tend with  in  different  parts  ;  in  Thrace,  on  the  Rhine,  and 
among  the  Alps,  but  chiefly  in  Spain. 

Of  all  the  provinces  that  became  subject  to  Rome,  those 
of  Spain  had  been  the  most  difficult  acquisition ;  insomuch 
that,  after  all  the  wars  so  frequently  renewed  in  that  coun- 
try, there  were  still  some  warlike  cantons  who  continued  to 
maintain  their  independence.  Among  these  the  Astures 
and  Cantabri*  being  in  actual  rebellion,  the  emperor  himself 
ut  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  still  pretending  a  design  to 

*  Nations  inhabiting  the  mountainous  coasts  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay. 


51G  HISTORY  OF  THE  {B.  VI. 

invade  Britain,  passed  into  Gaul,  and  there  having  fixed  a 
rate  of  taxation  for  the  province,  turned  into  Spain.  He 
obliged  the  rebels,  upon  his  approach,  to  quit  their  usual 
habitations,  and  retire  to  the  mountains.  But  finding  that 
they  were  likely  to  protract  the  war,  and  to  engage  him  in 
a  succession  of  tedious  and  indecisive  operations,  he  fixed 
his  quarters  at  Tarraco,*  and  left  the  command  of  the  army 
employed  on  this  service  to  C.  Antistius  and  Carisius.  Soon 
after  Ms  arrival  at  Tarraco  he  entered  on  his  eighth  con- 
sulate.f  From  that  place  he  sent  Terentius  Varro  to  quell  a 
rebellion  of  the  Salassi  and  the  other  nations  of  the  Alps,  and 
sent  M.  Vincius  to  punish  some  German  tribes,  by  whom 
the  Roman  traders  frequenting  their  country,  or  settled 
among  them,  had  been  massacred.  He  himself,  while  his 
generals  were  employed  in  these  services,  remained  two 
years  at  his  quarters  in  Spain ;  and  upon  the  elapse  of  his 
eighth  consulate,  resumed  that  office  for  the  ninth  time.J 

During  the  residence  of  Augustus  in  Spain,  arrived  a  re- 
ference or  appeal  from  the  Parthians,  submitting  to  his 
decision  a  contest  for  the  throne  of  their  kingdom.  The 
competitors,  Phraates  and  Tiridates,  both  offered  honour- 
able terms  to  the  Romans,  particularly  the  restoration  of  all 
the  captives,  and  of  all  the  trophies  taken  either  from  Cras- 
sus  or  from  Antony,  in  their  unfortunate  invasions  of  that 
kingdom.  By  this  transaction,  though  a  pacific  one,  the 
disgrace  incurred  by  the  Roman  legions  in  Parthia  was 
supposed  to  he  entirely  effaced.  And  it  being  said  that 
Augustus,  on  this  occasion,  had  performed,  by  the  authority 
of  his  name,  what  other  Roman  leaders  had  attempted  in 
vain  by  force  of  arms,  he  had  a  variety  of  honours  decreed 
to  him  by  the  senate. 

Soon  afterwards  the  operations  of  the  armies  in  Spain 
and  Germany  were  brought  to  a  successful  period.  Caius 
Antistius  being  attacked  by  the  Cantabri,  obtained  a  com- 
plete victory,  and  obliged  that  people  again  to  take  sepa- 
rate retreats  in  the  woods  and  mountains,  where  numbers 
of  them  were  reduced  by  famine,  and  others,  being  invested 
in  their  strongholds,  and  in  danger  of  being  taken,  chose  to 
perish  by  their  own  hands.  Carisius  was  equally  suceess- 
'ul  against  the  Astures ;  obliged  them  to  abandon  their  habi- 
tations, or  to  submit  at  discretion. 

Terentius  Varro,  'having  invaded  the  Salassi,  or  Pied- 
montese,  on  different  quarters,  made  them  agree  to  pay  a 
contribution,  and,  under  pretence  of  levying  it,  sent  an 
army  in  separate  divisions  into  their  country;  and  thus 

*  Tarragona.  i  U.  C.  727. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  517 

having  them  at  his  mercy,  ordered,  that  all  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  nation,  thus  taken  by  surprise,  should  be  put 
up  for  sale. 

About  the  same  time  Augustus  received  from  the  army 
the  title  of  Imperator,  and  from  the  senate  the  otter  of  i 
triumph,  on  account  of  the  victories  gained  by  his  lieutenants. 
The  last  of  these  honours  he  declined ;  but  took  occasion  to 
exhibit  games  in  Spain,  in  name  of  his  nephew  Marcellua 
and  of  his  step- son  Tiberius,  whom  he  wished  to  recom- 
mend to  the  army  by  this  act  of  munificence.  He  likewise 
distributed  lands,  both  in  Spain  and  in  the  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
to  the  soldiers  who  were  discharged  from  the  legions,  and 
on  this  occasion  built  the  Augusta  Emeritorum.*  in  Spain, 
and  the  Augusta  Pretoria  t  on  the  descent  of  the  Alps  to- 
wards Italy.  In  conformity  with  his  general  plan  of  divid- 
ing the  provinces,  he  separated  Spain  into  three  govern- 
ments, the  Baetica,  Lusitanii-a,  and  Tarraconensis.  The 
first  was  included  under  the  department  of  the  senate,  the 
other  two  had  been  reserved  to  himself.  Gaul  was,  at  the 
same  time,  divided  into  four  separate  governments ;  the 
Narbonensis,  Aquitania,  Lugdunensis,  and  Celtica  or 
Belgica. 

The  general  peace  being  again  restored,  by  the  successful 
operations  of  the  army  in  different  quarters  of  the  empire, 
the  gates  of  Janus  once  more  were  shut,  and  a  column  was 
erected  on  a  summit  of  the  Alps,  bearing  an  inscription, 
with  the  names  of  forty-eight  separate  nations  or  cantons, 
who  were  now  reduced  to  obedience  under  the  auspices  ol 
Augustus. 

The  emperor  being  on  his  return  to  Home,  and  having 
accepted  of  a  tenth  consulate,  the  ceremony  of  his  admis- 
sion into  office  was  performed  before  his  arrival  on  the  first 
of  January,  with  a  renewal  of  the  oaths  formerly  taken  by 
the  people,  that  they  would  observe  his  decrees.  J  At  his 
return,  after  so  long  an  absence,  he  was  received  by  all 
orders  of  men  with  every  demonstration  of  joy.  Having 
already  been  nattered  in  his  own  person  with  every  mark 
of  distinction  and  honour,  he  was  now  courted  in  the  per- 
son of  his  favourite  nephew  Marcellus.  This  young  man 
was  admitted,  by  a  formal  decree,  to  a  place  in  the  senate 
among  the  members  of  pretorian  rank,  and  was  allowed  to 
sue  for  the  consulate  ten  years  before  the  legal  age.  Ldvw 
too  had  a  share  in  these  flatteries,  by  a  like  privilege  be- 
stowed on  her  son  Tiberius,  though,  in  order  to  retain 
some  distinction  between  the  favourite  nephew  and  the  step- 

»  Now  Mcrirta.  t  Now  Aosia.  *  U.  C.  tt9b 


518  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Bon  of  the  emperor,  the  decree  in  favour  of  Tiberius  only 
bore  that  he  might  sue  for  the  consulate  five  years  before  the 
legal  age. 

During-  the  absence  of  the  emperor,  the  plans  which  had 
been  formed  for  the  better  government  of  the  city,  for 
adorning-  it  with  public  buildings,  and  for  repairing  the 
highways  throughout  Italy,  were  carried  into  execution  by 
Agrippa.  The  repair  of  the  highways  had  been  assigned, 
in  separate  lots,  to  such  of  the  senators  as  were  supposed 
able  to  defray  the  expense  of  it ;  and,  among  these,  the 
Flaminian  Way  had  been  assigned  to  Augustus  himself. 
The  town  was  divided  into  quarters  or  districts,  under  pro- 
per officers,  annually  chosen  or  taken  by  lot ;  and  a  watch 
was  established,  to  prevent  disorders,  and  to  guard  against 
tire. 

The  channel  of  the  river,  in  a  great  measure  choked  up 
with  heaps  of  rubbish  from  the  ruins  of  houses,  that  formed 
considerable  banks  and  islands  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  at 
every  flood,  forced  great  inundations  into  the  streets,  was  * 
now  effectually  cleared.  The  Septa  Julia,  or  place  of  as- 
sembly called  the  Julian  place  in  honour  of  the  emperor, 
was  repaired,  adorned,  and  dedicated.  A  temple  was 
erected  to  Neptune,  in  memory  of  the  late  naval  victories. 
The  portico  of  the  pantheon,  too,  was  finished  about  this 
time. 

Soon  after  the  emperor  had  withdrawn  from  Spain,  leav- 
ing the  command  in  Lusitania  to  L.  ^milius,  the  Cantabri 
and  Astures,  took  a  resolution  again  to  shake  oft'  the  Roman 
yoke.  Proposing  to  give  the  first  intimation  of  th'eir  design 
by  a  stroke  of  importance,  they  drew  a  considerable  part  of 
the  Roman  army  into  their  country,  under  pretence  of 
furnishing  them  with  a  supply  of  earn  ;  and  when  they 
found  them  dispersed  in  small  parties  to  receive  the  proposed 
distribution,  they  put  the  whole,  or  the  greater  part,  to  the 
sword.  In  revenge  for  this  piece  of  treachery,  JEmilius  laid 
their  country  under  military  execution,  and  by  a  barbarous 
policy,  to  prevent  future  revolts,  cut  off  the  right  hands  of 
the  prisoners  whose  lives  he  spared. 

At  the  same  time  Augustus  himself  entertained  a  project 
of  making  discoveries  on  the  side  of  Arabia,  and  on  the 
coasts  of  the  Indian  seas.  For  this  purpose  ^Elius  Galhis, 
the  propretor  of  Egypt,  was  intrusted  with  the  conduct  of 
an  expedition  to  the  Gulf  of  Arabia.  This  officer,  by  the 
unskilfulness  of  his  mariners  and  pilots,  sustained  a  great 
loss  both  in  shipping  and  men,  and  in  attempting  to  penetrate 
the  deserts  of  Arabia  eastward,  he  lost  a  great  part  of  Ida 
truiy,  which  perished  tty  want  of  water,  or  by  disease. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  519 

And  thus,  after  a  fruitless  attempt,  in  which  he  spent  many 
months,  returned  to  Alexandria. 

While  these  transactions  passed  in  the  provinces  and  on 
the  frontier  of  the  empire,  Augustus,  then  residing  at  Rome, 
entered  on  an  eleventh  consulate.  His  colleague,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year,  was  Terentius  Varro  Murena,  But: 
this  consul  died  in  office,  and  was  succeeded  for  the  n> 
mainder  of  the  year  by  C.  Calpurnius  Piso.* 

Augustus  himself,  in  this  consulate  was  taken  ill ;  and 
being  supposed  in  danger,  called  his  colleague,  with  a 
number  of  the  principal  senators,  into  his  presence,  to  re- 
ceive his  last  instructions  relating  to  the  empire.  The  title 
by  which  he  affected  to  hold  the  government  could  not 
support  him  in  pointing  out  a  succession.  He  accordingly 
made  no  mention  of  any  successor  to  himself,  but  delivered 
to  the  consul  Piso,  as  being  first  officer  of  state,  the  memo- 
rials he  had  .drawn  up  relating  to  the  revenue  and  other 
public  establishments.  He  gave  to  Agrippa  his  ring,  which 
was  the  badge  of  his  nobility,  and  which,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  Romans,  had  an  emblematical  reference  to  his 
power.  After  his  recovery,  he  desired  that  the  will  which 
he  had  made  on  this  occasion  should  be  publicly  read ;  but 
the  senate,  already  knowing  the  contents,  and  affecting  to 
believe,  without  this  evidence,  the  sincerity  of  his  intentions 
to  restore  the  republic,  refused  to  comply.  They  also  ap- 
pointed great  rejoicings  on  account  of  his  recovery. 

Although  the  circumstance  of  Augustus  not  having  men  • 
tioned  his  nephew  Marcellus,  and  the  honour  he  had  done 
to  Agrippa,  were  probably  not  the  effects  of  any  serious 
design  respecting  the  succession,  they  nevertheless  became 
a  subject  of  jealousy  in  the  mind  of  the  young  man,  and 
soon  after  occasioned  the  retirement  of  Agrippa  from  tho 
court.  This  officer,  under  pretence  of  going  into  Syria, 
where  he  was  appointed  to  command,  set  out  from  Rome, 
but  stopped  at  Mitylene,  in  the  island  of  Lesbos,  where  he 
lived  in  retirement,  without  taking  any  part  in  public  affairs. 

During  the  stay  of  Agrippa  at  Mitylene,  and  in  less  than 
a  year  after  his  departure  from  Rome,  happened  the  death 
of  Marcellus ;  an  event  which  Livia  was,  by  some,  alleged 
to  have  hastened,  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  advancement 
of  her  own  sons. 

Augustus  had  now,  for  some  years,  without  intermission, 
assumed  and  exercised  the  otlice  of  consul;  but  thinking  ita 
authority  no  longer  necessary  to  support  his  power,  he  ui- 
Teeted  himself  of  the  title,  and  gave  a  fresh  proof  of  his  rao~ 

*  U.  C.  730. 


520  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

deration,  by  substituting  in  his  place  L.  Sestius,  one  of  the 
few  who  were  still  supposed  to  regret  the  fall  of  the  republic. 
Sestius  had  been  the  friend  of  Marcus  Brutus,  adhered  to 
the  cause  of  the  commonwealth  in  every  period  of  the  civil 
wars,  and,  though  spared  by  the  victors  at  Philippi,  still 
ventured  to  retain  the  statue  and  picture  of  his  friend. 

The  character  of  tribune,  which  had  been  annually  con- 
ferred on  the  emperor  for  some  years,  was,  on  the  present 
occasion,  rendered  perpetual  in  his  person,  and  he  was 
declared  perpetual  proconsul,  both  at  Rome  and  in  the  pro- 
vinces. He  was,  at  the  same  time,  pressed  to  accept  the  title 
and  power  of  dictator. 

The  people,  labouring  under  a  plague  or  epidemic  dis- 
temper, which,  in  the  usual  mode  of  their  superstition  they 
considered  as  a  punishment  inflicted  by  the  gods  for  some 
public  offence,  and  in  particular  for  their  having  suffered  the 
emperor  to  divest  himself  of  the  consulate,  proposed  that  he 
should  instantly  assume  the  power  of  dictator.*  They  col- 
lected twenty-four  fasces,  the  number  usually  carried  before 
this  officer,  and  repairing  to  the  emperor's  palace,  called  upon 
him  to  assume  his  power,  and  to  rescue  the  people  from  their 
present  calamities. 

Augustus  entreated  the  people  to  desist  from  their  pur- 
pose ;  and  when  still  pressed  appeared  to  be  greatly  agitated, 
tore  his  clothes,  and  gave  other  signs  of  extreme  distress.  In 
acting  this  part,  it  is  probable  that  Octavius  relied  more  on 
the  caution  with  which  he  avoided  otf'ence.  than  he  did  on 
the  vigilance  of  his  informers  and  spies,  or  on  the  terror  of 
his  arms.  He  could  not,  however,  at  all  times  avoid  having 
recourse  to  these  means  of  defence.  During  his  present  re- 
sidence at  Rome,  he  received  information  of  a  design  form- 
ed on  his  life  by  Murena  and  Fannius  Cepio,  and  brought 
them  to  trial. 

Murena  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Maecenas,  and  himself 
appeared  to  be  in  favour  with  Augustus.  Upon  the  sur- 
mise of  an  intention  to  seize  him,  together  with  Fannius, 
both  absconded  and  fled.  They  were  arraigned  and  tried 
in  absence ;  but  as  the  judges  still  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
voting  by  secret  ballot,  they  availed  themselves  of  it  to  ac- 
quit the  accused. 

The  use  of  the  secret  ballot  in  criminal  trials,  was  in  con- 
sequence so  far  abolished,  that  all  persons  who  fled  from 
trial,  or  who  declined  appearance,  were,  by  an  express 
statute,  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  it  j  and  this  circumstance 
deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  the  first  instance,  perhaps,  ia 

*  U.  C.  731. 


CM.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  521 

which  tho  judicial  forms  of  the  republic,  formerly  partial  to 
the  interests  of  the  people,  began  to  be  changed  in  favour  of 
despotism. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  reign,  are  dated  some  regulations 
calculated  for  the  peace  and  general  order  of  the  city. 
Among  these  it  is  mentioned,  that  the  number  of  pretors 
was  reduced  to  ten  ;  and  that  two  of  this  number  were  ap- 
pointed to  inspect  the  public  revenue  ;  and  that  the  shows 
of  gladiators  were  subjected  to  the  control  of  the  senate,  and 
the  number  of  pairs  to  be  exhibited,  on  any  particular  oc- 
casion, restricted  to  sixty.  The  care  likewise  of  extinguish- 
ing and  guarding  against  fire  being  in  the  department  of  the 
ediles,  a  body  of  six  hundred  men  destined  to  this  service, 
was  put  under  the  command  of  these  magistrates. 

The  usual  election  of  consuls  came  on  at  Rome.  Augus- 
tus himself  was  named,  together  with  M.  Lollius  Nepos  ;* 
but  he  declined  accepting  of  the  office,  and  affected  to  leave 
the  Roman  people,  as  of  old,  to  a  free  choice.  This  novelty 
gave  rise  to  a  warm  contest,  in  which  Quintus  Emilias 
Lepidus,  and  L.Silanus  appeared  as  competitors,  and  were 
supported  by  numerous  parties  of  their  friends.  The  peo- 
ple began  to  recover  the  remembrance  of  their  former 
power,  and  were  encouraged  or  supported  by  the  candidates 
in  disorders  or  freedoms,  from  which  they  had  for  some 
time  been  restrained.  Augustus  was  alarmed  with  these 
appearances  of  a  reviving  republic,  summoned  both  the  can- 
didates to  him  in  Sicily ;  and  having  reprimanded  them  for 
the  disturbances  they  gave,  forbade  them  to  appear  at 
Rome,  until  the  depending  elections  were  past.  The 
competition,  nevertheless,  was  carried  on  with  great  warmth 
in  their  absence,  and  ended  with  much  difficulty  in  favour 
of  Lepidus. 

Agrippa  was  about  this  time,  made  to  part  with  Marcella, 
the  niece  of  Augustus,  to  whom  he  had  been  some  time 
married,  in  order  that  lie  might  become  the  husband  of 
Julia,  and  by  this  title  the  first  in  the  family  of  Cesar. 

The  emperor,  while  in  Sicily,  having  bestowed  on  the 
city  of  Syracuse,  and  on  other  towns  of  that  island,  the 
privilege  of  Roman  colonies,  and  having  made  some  other 
arrangements  for  the  better  government  of  the  province, 
continued  his  voyage  from  thence  into  Greece.  As  he 
passed  through  Sparta  and  Athens*  he  treated  the  inhabi- 
tants of  those  once  eminent  cities  with  marks  of  favour  or 
displeasure,  according  to  the  part  they  had  taken  in  the  late 
divisions  of  the  empire. 

*  r.  C.  7J2. 


522  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VL 

From  these  visits  to  Sparta  and  Athens,  the  emperor  pro* 
ceeded  to  Samos,  where  he  remained  for  the  winter.  In 
the  spring,  he  passed  from  Samos  to  Bithynia,  in  which, 
though  a  senatorian  province,  he  made  some  reformations. 
The  Parthians  had  not  yet  restored  the  Roman  captives, 
arid  the  trophies,  of  which  they  had  got  possession  on  the 
defeats  of  Crassus  and  Antony,  and  which  had  lately  been 
promised.  These,  together  with  the  restored  standards  and 
other  trophies,  were  conducted  with  great  pomp  to  the  city 
of  Rome. 

Augustus  indulged,  on  the  conclusion  of  this  transaction, 
a  degree  of  vanity,  which  was  unusual  with  him  on  other 
occasions.  He  ordered  the  rites  of  thanksgiving  that  wern 
appropriated  to  the  greatest  victories ;  gave  instructions  to 
erect  a  triumphal  arch  ;  and  upon  his  return  to  Rome,  en- 
tered the  city  in  triumph. 

Before  leaving  the  east,  however,  he  disposed  of  king- 
doms on  the  frontier  to  the  princes  of  Asia,  who  were  con- 
sidered as  confederates  or  allies  of  the  Romans.  Among 
these,  he  gave  to  Tarcondimotus  a  principality  in  Cilicia ; 
to  Archelaus,  the  Lesser  Armenia;  to  Herod,  over  and 
above  his  own  kingdom  of  Judea,  the  principality  of  Zeno- 
dorus,  in  its  neighbourhood.  He  restored  a  prince,  of  the 
name  of  Mithridates,  to  the  kingdom  of  Commagene,  from 
which  his  father  had  been  expelled ;  and,  at  the  request  of 
the  people  of  Armenia,  sent  his  step-son  Tiberius  Claudius 
Nero,  now  about  twenty  years  of  age,  with  a  commission 
to  remove  Artaba/us,  then  in  possession  of  that  kingdom, 
and  to  declare  Tiridates,  who  was  still  at  Rome,  to  be  its 
sovereign.  This  revolution  in  Armenia  however  was,  by 
the  death  of  Artaba/us,  Avho  fell  by  the  hands  of  his  own 
subjects,  in  part  effected  before  the  arrival  of  Tiberius. 

Augustus,  during  his  stay  in  Syria,  had  accounts  of  the 
birth  of  a  grandson  Caius,  the  eldest  of  the  sons  of  Agrippa, 
by  his  daughter  Julia  ;*  and  on  his  way  to  Italy,  he  passed 
another  winter  in  Samos,  where  he  received  the  ambassa- 
dors of  many  nations,  ancl  among  these,  an  embassy  from 
India,  attended  with  a  numerous  retinue,  and  charged  with 
a  variety  of  presents.  But  what  probably  most  entertained 
the  curious  in  the  western  world,  was  the  exhibition  of  an  In. 
dian  sage  or  Brahmin,  who  having  taken  his  resolution  to  die, 
prepared  a  funeral  pile,.which  he  set  on  fire,  and  with  much 
ostentation  and  gravity  threw  himself  into  the  midst  of  it. 

When  the  emperor's  intended  return  was  announced  at 
Rome,  many  honours  were  decreed  to  him,  all  of  which  h« 

*  U.  C.  734. 


CH.  III.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  5?3 

dei-lMie:l.  On  his  approach  to  the  city,  the  magistrates  and 
the  people  prepared  to  go  forth  in  procession  to  meet  him  ; 
but  he  inade  his  entry  in  the  night  to  avoid  this  compli- 
ment. On  the  following  day,  he  procured  resolutions  of 
the  senate  and  people,  promoting  Tiberius,  the  eldest  of  the 
song  of  Livia,  to  the  rank  of  pretor,  and  bestowing  on 
Drusus,  the  younger  brother,  the  privilege  of  standing  for 
any  of  the  ancient  honours  of  the  commonwealth  five 
years  before  the  legal  age.  He  himself,  at  the  same  time, 
accepted  the  office  of  censor,  with  a  new  title,  that  of  in- 
spector of  manners,  for  five  years. 

Near  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  the  rolls  of  the  senate 
had  been  made  up,  and  in  th'-s  interval  many  reasons  may 
have  occurred  for  removing  some  of  the  members,  and  for 
substituting  others.  The  powers  of  censor,  with  which  the 
emperor  was  now  vested,  enabled  him,  without  any  unpre- 
cedented stretch  of  authority,  to  effect  his  purpose ;  but, 
notwithstanding  this  circumstance,  his  usual  caution  led 
him  to  seek  for  palliatives,  and  to  devise  means  to  lessen  or 
to  divide  the  odium  of  so  disagreeable  a  measure.  He 
gave  out,  that  the  number  of  senators  was  become  too 
great,  and  thus  having  provided  himself  with  an  excuse 
for  excluding  many  of  them,  without  stating  any  personal 
objection,  he  undertook,  by  his  own  authority,  to  reform 
the  list.  By  his  conduct  in  this  matter,  or  by  the  seve- 
rity of  his  censures,  he  was  supposed  to  have  made  so  many 
enemies,  or  he  himself  at  least  took  such  impressions  of  jea- 
lousy and  distrust  as  kept  him  in  alarm,  and  occasioned 
some  trials  and  executions. 

The  period  for  which  Augustus  had  accepted  the  com- 
mand of  the  armies,  and  taken  charge  of  part  of  the  pro- 
vinces being  about  to  expire,  he  repeated  the  form  of  hi* 
i  esignation,  and  was  prevailed  upon  to  resume  lus  trust, 
though  but  for  a  term  of  five  years  longer.*  Agrippa  being 
now  the  son-in-law  of  the  emperor,  and  the  first  in  his 
favour,  as  well  as  his  nearest  relation,  was  joined  with  him 
for  the  same  term  of  five  years,  in  the  character  of  tribune 
of  the  people. 

During  the  preceding  part  of  the  new  establishment 
Augustus  had  affected  to  limit  the  exercise  of  his  power  to 
the  military  department,  or  to  the  provinces  committed  to 
his  charge.  In  the  city,  or  in  civil  affairs,  he  acted  in  the 
name  of  the  senate,  or  under  the  veil  of  some  temporary 
office  of  magistracy.  But  in  the  period  upon  which  he  was 
now  entering,  he  seemed  to  have  thought  himself  safe  in 

*  U.  C.  73*. 


524  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

assuming-  a  more  direct  authority.  He  accordingly  re- 
ceived from  the  senate,  an  appointment  of  perpetual  extra- 
ordinary consul,  to  be  preceded  in  all  public  appearances  by 
twelve  lictors,  and  in  the  senate  to  have  a  chair  of  state 
placed  between  the  ordinary  consuls  of  the  year, 

From  the  time  of  the  civil  wars,  Italy  had  remained  sub- 
iect  to  many  disorders.  The  inhabitants,  alleging1  the 
dangers  to  which  they  had  been  exposed  in  their  persons 
and  properties,  continued  to  form  into  bands,  and  taking- 
arms,  under  pretence  of  defending  themselves,  employed 
those  arms  for  lawless  purposes ;  robbed,  murdered,  or  by 
force  confined  to  labour  in  their  "work-houses  many 
innocent  passengers,  whether  freemen  or  slaves,  whom 
they  thought  proper  to  question  or  violate,  under  the  ap- 
pellation of  disorderly  persons.  To  remedy  this  evil,  guards 
were  posted  at  proper  intervals,  and  a  species  of  military 
patrol  established  throughout  the  country,  with  orders  to 
protect  travellers,  to  inspect  the  work-houses  or  recepta- 
cles of  labouring  slaves,  and  to  suppress  all  associations,  be- 
sides those  of  the  ancient  corporations. 

By  the  same  authority  Augustus  revived  some  obsolete 
laws,  and  gave  instructions  to  put  them  in  force  ;  such  as  the 
laws  limiting  expense,  restraining  adultery,  lewdness,  and 
bribery,  together  with  the  laws  which  had  been  provided  to 
promote  marriage,  or  to  discourage  celibacy. 

As  it  was  proposed  to  multiply  marriages,  so  it  appeared 
likewise  of  consequence  to  render  the  dissolution  of  those 
already  formed  more  difficult,  and  to  lay  divorces  and  sepa- 
rations under  proportional  restraints.  The  people,  however, 
seemed  to  feel  themselves  become  the  property  of  a  master, 
who  required  them  to  multiply,  in  order  to  increase  the 
number  of  his  subjects ;  and  they  resisted  this  part  of  his 
administration,  more  than  any  other  circumstance  of  the 
state  of  degradation  into  which  they  were  fallen. 

Augustus,  in  this  second  period  of  his  reign,  while  he  ex- 
tended the  exercise  of  his  power,  still  endeavoured  to  dis- 
guise it  under  some  forms  or  regulations  of  the  ancient 
constitution.*  But  notwithstanding  his  attention,  by  these 
and  other  methods,  to  conceal  the  extent  of  his  usurpation, 
he  could  not  escape  the  penetration  of  his  subjects,  nor 
even  the  animadversion  of  buffoons,  to  whom  some  degrees 
of  freedom  or  of  petulance  are  permitted,  after  they  are 
withheld  from  every  one  else. 

The  emperor  having  remained  at  Rome  about  two  years 
after  the  commencement  of  the  second  period  of  his  reign, 

*  U.  C.  736. 


Ce.  HI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  525 

continued,  or  began  to  carry  on  many  works  for  the  orna- 
ment, magnificence,  or  convenience  of  the  city.  To  defray 
the  expense  of  such  works,  he  laid  persons,  who  had  ob> 
tained  a  triumph,  or  any  military  honour,  under  a  contri- 
bution of  some  part  of  their  spoils ;  and  by  these  means, 
perhaps,  made  some  officers  pay  for  their  vanity  more  than 
they  had  taken  from  the  enemy. 

About  this  time  Augustus  received  an  accession  to  his 
family  by  the  birth  of  another  grandson,  of  the  name  oi 
Lucius,  the  second  son  of  Agrippa,  by  his  daughter  Julia  ; 
and  by  adopting  both  the  brothers,  conferred  upon  them  the 
names  of  Caius  and  Lucius  Cesar,  and,  by  the  same  act, 
published  the  destination  of  his  fortunes.* 

In  the  midst  of  festivals,  which  were  instituted  on  this 
occasion,  the  attention  of  the  emperor  was  called  anew  to 
the  provinces  by  alarms  which  were  received  at  once  in 
many  parts  of  the  empire. 

The  Commenii  and  Venones,  nations  inhabiting  the  valleys 
of  the  Alps,  were  in  arms.t  The  Panonii  and  Norisci  had 
attacked  Istria.  The  Danthjeleti  and  Scordisci  had  invaded 
Macedonia.  The  Sauromatee  had  passed  the  Danube. 
Some  cantons,  both  of  Dalmatia  and  Spain,  had  revolted. 
The  Sicambri,  Usipetes,  and  Tenchteri,  German  nations 
bordering  on  the  Rhine,  made  a  descent  upon  Gaul.  These 
revolts  of  the  frontier  provinces,  or  incursions  of  barbarous 
neighbours,  may  be  considered  as  part  of  a  war  which  lasted 
for  ages,  and  terminated  at  last  in  the  ruin  of  the  empire. 
This  descent  on  Gaul  was  indeed  the  first  signal  calamity 
which  had  befallen  the  Roman  arms  under  the  auspices  of 
the  present  emperor.  It  was  supposed  to  have  greatly  af- 
fected him,  and  to  have  caused  the  resolution  which  he  took 
to  superintend,  in  person,  the  measures  that  were  necessary 
to  repair  this  loss.  He  despatched  Agrippa,  at  the  same 
time,  into  Asia,  where  a  contest  which  had  arisen  respect- 
ing the  succession  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Bosphorus  requires 
his  presence. 

The  emperor,  leaving  the  administration  of  affairs  at 
Rome  in  the  hands  of  Statilius  Taurus,  set  out  for  Gaul,  ac- 
companied by  Mecenas  and  Tiberius,  now  in  the  rank  of 
prrtor,  who  made  a  part  of  his  court.  At  his  arrival  in 
Gaul,  the  people  were  relieved  of  the  alarm  they  had  taken 
on  the  approach  of  the  German  invaders,  who,  not  being 
prepared  to  make  a  continual  war  beyond  their  own  bound- 
aries, had  repassed  the  Rhine.* 

While  the  Germans  fled  from  Gaul  upon  the  report  of  the 

*  U.  C.  726  *  V.  C  r.\l.  1  J»    C.  738. 

TT 


526  HISTORf  OF  THE  [B.  V. 

fcmperor's  approach,  the  revolts  of  the  Commenii  and  Ve- 
nones,  of  the  Panonii  and  Ligures  Comati,  were  quelled 
fit  the  same  time  by  the  different  officers  who  had  been  em- 
ployed against  them. 

Not  long  after,  news  arrived  at  Rome,  that  the  service  on 
which  Agrippa  had  been  sent  was  successfully  performed. 
Augustus  passed  above  two  years  in  Gaul,  and  on  returning 
to  Rome  left  Drusus,  the  younger  of  the  sons  of  Li  via,  to 
command  on  the  Rhine,  and  to  continue  certain  military 
services  he  had  lately  begun  among  the  Alps.*  There  were 
now  presented  to  the  senate  for  their  approbation,  certain 
bills  for  the  improvement  of  the  discipline  of  the  army.  By 
these  the  term  of  military  service  was  fixed,  if  in  the  pre- 
torian  bands,  at  twelve  years  ;  if  in  the  legions,  at  sixteen 
years.  After  this  term,  it  was  admitted  that  a  soldior 
might  claim  his  discharge. 

It  was  also  proposed  to  substitute,  for  grants  of  land,  a 
gratuity  in  money  in  rewarding  deserving  veterans  on  their 
discharge.  By  publishing  this  regulation,  he  greatly  quieted 
the  fears  and  apprehensions  under  which  the  pacific  inhabi- 
tants laboured  in  different  parts  of  the  empire,  and  the  value 
of  land  property  suddenly  rose. 

The  utmost  efforts  of  the  emperor  were  likewise  required, 
on  the  present  occasion,  to  preserve  the  mask  under  which 
he  wished  to  conduct  his  government.  The  senate,  though 
maintained  in  all  its  formalities,  was  observed  to  have  no 
power,  and  began  to  be  deserted.  So  also  the  titles  of 
magistracy,  which  continued  for  some  time  to  be  coveted,  on 
tccount  of  the  rank  which  they  were  supposed  to  bestow,  now 
•ecame  contemptible  from  the  frequency  and  prostitution  of 
•inch  honours.  In  the  sequel  of  these  measures,  it  is  pro- 
oable,  although  not  mentioned  by  any  of  the  historians,  that 
Augustus  accepted  of  a  prolongation  of  his  power  for  other 
five  years ;  and  again  assumed  Agrippa  with  himself  into 
the  office  of  tribune  for  the  same  term.  The  ceremony  of 
this  resignation  became,  by  degrees,  a  matter  of  form,  and 
nis  resumption  of  the  empire  was  made  known  by  sports  and 
entertainments,  which  rendered  the  occasion  extremely 
agreeable  to  the  people. 

About  this  time  died  the  famous  triumvir  M.  ^miliua 
Lepidus,  formerly  the  associate  or  the  tool  of  Octavius 
and  Antony,  in  the  execution  of  their  designs  against  the 
republic.t  Augustus  had  suffered  this  fallen  rival  to  re- 
nain,  during  his  life,  in  the  dignity  of  pontiff;  but  upon  the 
ieath  of  Lepidus,  he  did  not  neglect  to  assume  the  only 

*  U.  C.  740.  *  U.  C.  740. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  527 

•dignity  which  was  wanting  to  complete  the  accumulation 
of  prerogatives  united  in  his  own  person. 

Agrippa  had  returned  to  Rome,  about  the  same  time, 
with  the  emperor ;  but  soon  had  occasion  again  to  depart 
from  Italy,  being  sent  to  quell  a  rebellion  that  broke  out  in 
Panonia.*  Upon  his  arrival  in  tins  country,  finding  the 
natives  already  subdued  by  the  fear  of  his  approach,  he  ac- 
cepted of  their  submission  ;  and  though  still  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  set  out  on  his  return  tp  Rome.  After  he  had  re- 
passed  the  seas,  on  his  way  through  Campania,  he  was  taken 
dangerously  ill.  Augustus  received  the  accounts  of  his 
danger,  while  he  was  exhibiting  sports  to  the  people  in  the 
name  of  his  two  sons,  Cains  and  Lucius,  and  left  the  city 
immediately  to  attend  his  friend ;  but  came  too  late,  and 
after  he  expired. 

This  great  man  appears  to  have  been  worthy  of  the  best 
times  of  the  republic.  He  had  magnanimity  enough  to 
have  relied  on  his  personal  qualities  alone  for  consideration 
and  honour,  and  was  fit  to  have  been  a  citizen  of  Rome  in 
its  happiest  age ;  but  from  the  necessity  of  the  times,  and  the 
principles  of  fidelity  to  the  friend  who  trusted  him,  he  be- 
came a  principal  support  of  the  monarchy.  His  great  abili- 
ties being  employed  to  maintain  the  government  and 
authority  of  the  prince,  and  his  credit  with  the  prince  em- 
ployed in  acts  of  justice  and  moderation  to  the  people,  he 
was  neither  an  object  of  jealousy  to  the  one,  nor  of  envy  to 
the  other. 

Julia,  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  was  again  pregnant, 
and  bore  a  third  son,  who,  from  the  family  of  his  father,  and 
the  circumstances  of  Ids  birth,  was  known  by  the  name  of 
Agrippa  Postlmmus. 


CHAP.  IV. 

Marriage  of  Julia  with  Tibtriut—  Death  of  Druna  —  Death  of  Mecetiai 
— Ditgrace  of  Julia — War  in  1'anonia— Roman  Legiont  cutoff  in  Ger- 
many—Tiberiiu  asxKtated  in  the  Empire  — Death  of  Augustus 

THE  death  of  Agrippa  made  way  for  Tiberius  Claudius 
Nero,  then  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  into  a  higher 
place  than  he  yet  held  in  the  family  and  confidence  of  the 
emperor.t 

*  U.  C.  741.  t  U.  C.  741. 


528  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Octavius  had  received  this  young  man  in  the  arms  of  hit- 
mother  Livia,  had  observed  the  progress  of  his  childhood 
and  youth,  and  had  given  him  no  distinguished  place  in  his 
favour  during  the  lives  of  Marcellus  or  Agrippa,  to  whom 
be  had  successively  married  his  daughter  :  but  being  deprived 
of  both  these  supports,  and  his  adopted  children,  Caius  and 
Lucius,  being  yet  of  tender  age,  he  was  led  to  re«eive 
Tiberius  as  a  relation,  the  nearest  to  supply  the  place  of 
those  he  had  lost.  Tiberius  was  already  a  husband  and  a 
father,  having  been  married  to  Vipsania,  the  daughter  of 
Agrippa,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  named  Drusus.  He  now, 
at  the  instance  of  the  emperor,  parted  from  Vipsania,  then 
a  second  time  pregnant,  in  order  to  make  way  for  Julia,  by 
whom  he  was  to  hold  the  second  place  in  the  empire. 

Tiberius  had  begun  his  military  services  with  some  dis- 
tinction in  Gaul,  and  noxv  coming  into  the  place  of  Agrippa. 
was  sent  to  repress  a  rebellion,  which,  upon  the  report  of 
that  officer's  death,  had  again  broke  out  in  Panonia.  Having 
succeeded  in  this  service,  he  gave  orders  that  the  youth  of 
the  vanquished  nation  should  be  sold  into  slavery,  and  that 
the  buyer  should  come  under  an  obligation  to  transport 
themfar  from  their  native  country ;  a  cruel  action,  but  notin- 
frequent  in  the  history  of  the  Romans.  About  the  same  time 
Drusus,  the  younger  brother  of  Tiberius,  then  stationed  on 
the  Rhine,  had  repulsed  a  body  of  Germans,  passed  the  river 
m  pursuit  of  them,  and  laid  waste  the  contiguous  country  of 
the  Sicambri  and  Usipetes,  Avhich,  lying  between  the  Lippe 
and  the  Issel,  is  now  the  bishopric  of  Munstcr,  or  the  pro- 
vince of  Zutphen. 

As  the  Roman  armies  had  now,  for  some  time,  ceased  to 
make  offensive  war,  many  of  the  barbarous  nations  took 
courage  from  this  circumstance,  and  began  to  harass  the 
provinces  in  their  neighbourhood,  passed  the  Rhine  and  the 
Danube  in  frequent  incursions,  and  laid  waste  the  frontiers 
of  Gaul,  Panonia  and  Thrace ;  insomuch,  that  it  appeared 
necessary,  for  the  security  of  these  provinces,  to  attack  the 
enemy,  and  to  furnish  them  sufficient  occupation  in  the 
defence  of  their  own  country. 

While  these  operations  took  place,  under  the  officers 
whom  the  emperor  employed  in  the  provinces,  he  himself 
remained  at  Rome  ;  and  the  few  circumstances  which  are 
mentioned,  relating  to  aflairs  of  state  in  the  capital,  are 
characteristic  of  the  times,  but  not  otherwise  interesting  or 
important. 

The  emperor  himself,  in  his  capacity  of  inspector  of  man- 
ners, took  an  account  of  the  people,  paying  the  highest  re- 
gard to  the  distinctions  of  senator  and  knight,  aud  to  th9 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  529 

honours  which  wore  constituted  by  titles  of  office,  as  those 
of  pretor  and  consul.  But  these  names  of  distinction,  winch 
ho  affected  to  preserve,  having-  no  real  consideration  or 
power  annexed  to  them,  only  served  to  remind  the  people 
of  dignities  which  no  longer  existed.  The  senate  itself, 
though  filled  with  persons  who  bore  the  titles  of  pretorian  and 
consular,  and  though,  with  affected  respect,  still  preserved 
among  the  ruins  of  the  commonwealth,  being  deprived  of 
its  ancient  foundations,  underwent  a  continual  decay :  and 
the  honours  to  which  citizens  had  formerly  aspired,  with  so 
much  ardour,  were  now  neglected  or  shunned  with  disdain. 

The  servility  of  the  times  seemed  to  outrun  the  exactions 
of  the  sovereign.  Some  of  the  courtiers,  in  their  desire  to 
flatter,  and  others,  under  the  fear  of  being  suspected  of  dis- 
affection, began  the  practice  of  contributing  sums  of  money 
to  erect  statues  to  the  emperor ;  and  he  himself,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  dream,  or  directed  by  some  species  of 
superstition,  made  it  a  practice,  on  certain  days,  to  ask,  as 
in  charity,  from  all  who  came  in  his  way,  some  small  pieces 
of  money.  As  he  was  in  his  temper  sufficiently  liberal, 
neither  of  these  practices  brought  him  under  any  imputa- 
tion of  rapacity.  What  was  contributed  to  erect  statues 
for  himself  he  employed  in  multiplying  those  of  the  gods, 
particularly  in  erecting  the  allegorical  images  of  Safety, 
Concord,  and  Peace.  What  he  received  as  a  charity  was 
returned  twofold. 

About  this  date  died  Octavia,  the  widow  of  Marcellus 
and  of  Mark  Antony.*  Her  obsequies  being  performed 
with  great  pomp,  the  emperor  himself  pronounced  the 
funeral  oration.  Soon  after  this  event,  notwithstanding 
there  was  no  recent  alarm  from  the  enemy  on  the  Rhine, 
the  emperor  thought  proper  to  change  the  place  of  his  resi- 
dence from  Italy  to  the  north  of  the  Alps.  Under  pretence 
of  observing  the  storms  which  still  threatened  foe  province 
of  Gaul  from  the  barbarous  nations  in  its  frontier,  he  took 
his  station  for  the  campaign  at  the  confluence  of  the  Saone 
and  the  Rhone,  and  from  thence  gave  his  instructions  to  tho 
two  brothers,  Tiberius  and  Drusm.  to  whom  the  war  was 
committed  on  the  Save  and  the  Rhine.  In  the  following 
spring  the  two  brothers  resumed  their  commands.  Drusus 
passed  the  Rhine,  overran  the  country  of  the  Chatti,  and 
penetrated  to  the  Elbe,  where  he  erected  some  trophies, 
and  left  some  monuments  of  the  progress  he  had  made ;  but 
on  the  approach  of  winter,  being  obliged  to  retire,  he  WM 
taken  ill  on  the  march  and  died. 

*  V.  C.  713, 


630  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

The  title  of  Germanicus  having  been  conferred  on 
Drusus,  it  remained  in  his  family.  He  had  issue  two  sons 
and  a  daughter ;  the  eldest  known  by  the  name  of  Ger- 
manicus Cesar,  the  younger  by  the  name  of  Claudius,  long 
neglected  on  account  of  his  imbecility ;  and  the  daughter 
Livilla,  hereafter  to  be  mentioned  as  the  wife  of  successive 
husbands.  Soon  after  the  funeral  of  his  brother,  Tiberius 
entered  the  city  in  procession,  to  celebrate  the  success  of 
his  arms  in  Dalmatia.  He  gave  a  public  feast  to  the  peo- 
ple; and  as  in  this  entertainment  only  one  of  the  sexes 
could  partake,  Livja  and  Julia  were  allowed  to  entertain 
the  other. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  Augustus  again 
entered  the  city  in  a  kind  of  triumphal  procession.*  The 
period  for  which,  at  his  last  pretended  resignation,  he  had 
consented  to  accept  of  the  government,  being  expired,  he 
affected  a  purpose,  as  formerly,  to  resign  the  empire ;  and 
was  again  prevailed  upon  to  resume  it  for  ten  years  more. 
The  decline  of  the  civil  establishment,  of  which  he  still 
wished  to  preserve  the  appearances,  occupied  his  principal 
attention.  The  senate,  as  has  been  observed,  underwent  a 
continual  degradation,  and  its  assemblies  were  neglected. 
The  emperor  appointed  ordinary  assemblies  of  the  senate 
on  particular  days  of  each  month,  and  ordered  that  those 
days  should  be  kept  clear  of  any  other  public  business 
whatever.  Having  formerly  reduced  the  number  that  was 
required  to  constitute  a  legal  meeting,  from  four  hundred 
to  three  hundred,  he  now  directed,  that  in  matters  of  less 
moment,  even  fewer  might  constitute  such  meetings,  and 
that  in  fixing  the  quorum  on  any  particular  occasion,  re- 
gard should  be  had  to  the  importance  of  the  business  before 
them. 

About  the  same  time  are  dated  other  regulations  ascribed 
to  Augustus,  of  which  some  related  to  the  conduct  of  elec- 
tions, and  others  to  that  of  criminal  trials.  In  respect  to 
criminal  trials,  as  the  subject  was  more  serious,  the  regula- 
tions now  made  by  the  emperor  were  of  more  effect.  So 
long  as  the  people  were  sovereigns  of  the  commonwealth, 
it  was  part  of  the  security  which,  in  their  collective  capa- 
city, they  provided  for  themselves,  as  individuals  amenable 
to  the  laws,  "that  no  slave  could  be  tortured  to  give  evi- 
dence against  his  master."  As  this  law,  in  the  present  state 
of  the  government,  might  obstruct  prosecutions  that  were 
instituted  even  for  the  emperor's  safety,  it  was  thought 
necessary  to  find  some  expedient  by  which  to  elude  its 

*  V.  C.  145. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  631 

force.  For  this  purpose  it  was  enacted,  that  such  slaves  as 
might  be  wanted  in  evidence  against  their  masters  should 
be  conveyed  by  a  formal  process  of  sale  to  the  emperor,  and 
that,  being  in  his  possession,  they  might  be  put  to  the  ques- 
tion, or  cited  as  witnesses,  even  against  their  former  mas- 
ters. This  act  was  considered  as  a  dreadful  innovation ; 
but  the  consideration  of  the  emperor's  safety  was  supposed 
to  be  a  sufficient  excuse  for  any  deviation  that  was  made 
from  the  forms  of  the  republic. 

Augustus  having  passed  the  winter  at  Rome,  returned  in 
the  spring  to  his  former  station  in  Gaul,  accompanied  by 
Caius,  the  elder  of  his  adopted  sons,  whom  he  now  proposed 
to  introduce  to  the  military  service  ;  and  by  Tiberius,  who, 
notwithstanding  the  rise  of  a  new  light  in  the  person  of  the 
young  Cesar,  who  threatened  to  obscure  his  lustre,  con- 
tinued to  receive  fresh  marks  of  the  emperor's  favour,  and 
was  considered  as  a  principal  support  of  his  government. 
Being  placed  at  the  head  of  the  army  on  the  Rhine,  he  had 
charge  of  the  war  which  had  lately  been  committed  to 
Drusus,  his  younger  brother.  But  few  particulars  are 
mentioned  of  the  campaign  which  followed  in  that  quarter. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  result,  it  is  mentioned,  that 
Augustus  received  from  the  army  the  title  of  imperator, 
and  gave  this  title  likewise  to  Tiberius ;  that  he  put  him  in 
nomination  for  consul  on  the  following  year,  and,  at  their 
return  to  Rome,  permitted  him  to  make  his  entry  into  the 
city  in  triumph,  while  he  himself  declined  the  honour. 

Soon  after  the  emperor's  arrival  in  Itaiy,  he  suffered  a 
great  loss  by  the  death  of  Maecenas.  This  event  made  a 
breach  in  the  civil  department  of  his  affairs,  not  less  than 
that  which  the  death  of  Agrippa  had  made  in  the  military. 
The  predilection  of  this  minister  for  learning,  and  the  inti- 
macy in  which  he  lived  with  persons  of  the  best  and  most 
elegant  accomplishments,  who  were  recommended  to  him 
merely  by  their  merit,  has  made  his  name  proverbial  among 
those  of  the  patrons  of  letters.  His  inclination  in  this  mat- 
ter, if  it  did  not  form  the  taste  of  his  master,  happily  con- 
curred with  it,  and  brought  him  acquainted  with  those  ele- 
gant productions  of  genius  which  occupy  the  affections,  as 
well  as  the  fancy ;  and  which,  in  a  situation  otherwise 
/ikely  to  instil  pride,  jealousy,  and  distrust  of  mankind, 
served  at  once  as  an  antidote  to  these  evils,  and  opened  the 
way  to  better  dispositions*  M.-ecenas  had  served  his 
prince  with  great  fidelity,  and,  if  not  insensible  to  personal 
ambition,  was  at  least  satisfied  with  the  elevation  he  had 
gained  in  the  confidence  of  his  prince.  Ho  retained  the 
equestrian  rank  to  which  he  was  born,  without  endeavour- 


532  HISTORY  OF  THE  fB.VL 

ing  to  accumulate  the  preferments  or  titles  which  were  so 
much  an  object  of  ambition  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  reign, 
and  so  easy  an  acquisition  in  the  latter  part  of  it.  It  is  ob- 
served, however,  that  he  experienced,  as  is  common,  some 
vicissitude  in  his  master's  temper,  and  outlived  the  high 
measure  of  favour  which  he  enjoyed,  but  without  any  in- 
terruption of  his  duty.  As  he  lived,  when  most  in  favour, 
without  any  public  envy,  so  he  escaped  every  public  insult 
when  supposed  in  disgrace.  While  he  presented  the  em- 
peror with  a  continual  model  of  elegance,  ingenuity,  and 
good  temper,  he  took  the  liberty  to  check  his  passions,  and 
served  him  no  less  by  the  sincerity  of  his  speech,  than  by  the 
ability  of  his  conduct. 

By  the  successive  diminutions  of  the  list  of  confidants,  on 
whom  Augustus  relied  for  the  administration  of  his  govern- 
ment, the  influence  of  Livia,  and  the  fortunes  of  her  son 
Tiberius,  received  a  continual  advancement.*  The  latter 
being  to  enter  on  the  office  of  consul,  was  received  by  the 
senate  in  the  Curia  Octavia,  beyond  the  walls  of  the  city. 
In  his  address  to  this  assembly  he  spoke  of  the  public  works 
which  he  proposed  to  erect.  Among  these  a  temple  of 
Concord,  to  be  inscribed  with  his  own  name,  joined  with  that 
of  his  brother ;  and  of  another  temple,  to  be  dedicated  by 
himself,  in  conjunction  with  his  mother  Livia.  He  gavs,  in 
her  name  and  in  his  own,  upon  this  occasion,  splendid  en- 
tertainments to  the  senate,  and  to  persons  of  distinction  of 
both  sexes.  Having  vowed  an  exhibition  of  public  shows 
for  the  safe  return  of  the  emperor  from  his  last  campaign, 
lie  made  all  the  necessary  provision  for  the  performance  of 
his  vow ;  but  being  obliged  to  set  out  for  the  array  on 
the  Rhine,  he  trusted  the  discharge  of  this  duty  with  Piso, 
his  colleague  in  the  consulate,  and  with  Caius,  the  eldest 
of  the  emperor's  sons. 

Soon  after  this  date  Tiberius  underwent  a  great  and  sud- 
den change  in  the  state  of  his  fortunes,  t  Upon  his  return 
from  the  campaign  on  the  Rhine,  he  was  vested  with  the 
character  of  tribune  of  the  people  for  five  years ;  and,  under 
pretence  of  a  war  likely  to  arise  on  the  Euphrates,  from  the 
defection  of  the  king  of  Armenia,  who  was  disposed  to  join 
the  Parthians,  he  was  appointed  to  command  the  armies  in 
Syria ;  but  it  soon  after  appeared,  that  this  preferment  and 
change  of  station  were  devised  to  conceal  a  species  of  exile 
or  removal  from  the  court.  At  his  departure  from  Rome, 
he  passed  into  Asia ;  but  instead  of  continuing  his  route  to 
his  pretended  destination  in  Syria,  he  withdrew  to  the  island 

»  U.  (1.746.  f  U.  C.  7  if. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  -533 

of  Rhodes,  where,  under  pretence  of  study,  he  lived  »om« 
years  in  retirement. 

The  real  cause  of  this  retreat  of  Tiberius  was  never 
known  ;  and  we  are  deprived  of  any  light  which  might  have 
been  thrown  on  this,  or  the  transactions  of  some  of  the  suc- 
ceeding years,  by  a  breach  in  the  text  of  the  history.* 

In  one  of  the  years  of  this  period,  or  about  the  year  of 
Rome  seven  hundred  and  fifty- one,  is  fixed  by  the  vulgar 
computation  the  commencement  of  our  era  at  the  birth  ol 
Christ ;  an  event  not  calculated  to  have  an  immediate  in- 
fluence on  the  transactions  of  state,  or  to  make  a  part  in  the 
materials  of  political  history,  though  destined  to  produce, 
hf  a  few  ages,  a  great  change  in  the  institutions,  manners, 
and  general  character  of  nations. 

At  this  date,  from  the  imperfect  records  which  remain, 
we  have  scarcely  any  materials  of  history,  besides  the  oc- 
currences of  the  court,  and  the  city  of  Rome ;  the  public 
entertainments  that  were  given,  the  occasions  on  which 
they  were  exhibited,  and  the  provision  that  was  made  in 
the  capital  for  the  subsistence  and  pleasure  of  an  idle  and 
profligate  populace. 

The  emperor  having  again  assumed  the  office  of  ordinary 
consul,  that  he  might  preside  at  the  admission  of  his  younger 
adopted  son,  Lucius  Cesar,  to  the  age  of  manhood,  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  office  no  longer  than  was  necessary  for 
this  purpose.  He  exhibited  magnificent  shows  as  usual 
upon  this  occasion,  and  among  others,  one  that  is  mentioned 
probably  as  a  novelty,  a  shoal  of  six  and  thirty  crocodiles  of 
uncommon  size,  turned  out  to  be  hunted  or  fished  in  the 
basin  of  the  circus  Flaminius.  While  the  emperor  gratified 
the  people  in  their  public  diversions  to  a  degree  of  debauch, 
he  made  some  ineffectual  attempts  to  regulate  the  gratui- 
tous distribution  of  corn,  that  other  principal  engine  of 
abuse  which  the  Roman  citizens,  though  in  other  respects 
fallen  from  their  sovereignty,  still  carefully  retained  among 
the  relics  of  their  democratical  government. 

The  sports  themselves,  though  fierce  and  irrational  in 
many  instances,  were  splendid,  magnificent,  and  sometimes 
interesting.  The  presence  of  the  Roman  people,  in  vast 
spaces  or  theatres  fitted  up  to  receive  them,  was  always 
awful  and  sublime.  The  precedence  of  rank  at  these  enter- 
tainments, was  considered.  even  under  tUe  republic,  as  a 
principal  object  of  state.  The  tir^t  benches  were  reserved. 
'or  the  senators  ;  the  next,  at  certain  periods,  had  been, 
allotted  to  the  equestrian  order  ;  and  the  <[uestion,  whether 

»  U.  0.  748.-731. 


534  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VL 

tliis  order  should  be  mixed  with  the  people,  or  separated 
from  them,  made  a  subject  at  different  times  of  much  dis- 
pute and  contention.  The  female  sex  too  had  their  places* 
though  at  the  fights  of  gladiators  they  were  removed  to 
distance,  being  seated  behind  the  other  spectators  ;  and  from 
the  athletic  games  were  excluded  altogether. 

The  coarseness,  nevertheless,  of  those  public  entertain- 
ments to  which  the  Roman  women  were  still  admitted ;  the 
want  of  any  interval,  in  their  manners,  between  a  rigorous 
severity,  and  the  other  extreme  of  an  unbounded  license, 
had,  in  many  instances,  the  worst  effect  on  their  conduct. 
The  emperor  himself  had  a  distressing  example  of  this  effect 
in  his  own  family,  by  the  flagrant  debaucheries  of  his 
daughter  Julia,  who,  having  once  quitted  the  reserve,  and 
broken  through  the  austerities  of  her  father's  house,  multi- 
plied her  paramours  indefinitely,  and  even  frequented  the 
places  of  public  debauch.  The  emperor,  though  not  sup- 
posed to  be  wanting  in  the  tenderness  of  a  parent,  upon  the 
detection  of  these  disorders,  had  her  banished  to  a  small 
island  on  the  coast,  reduced  to  low  diet,  and  forbid  to  receive 
any  visits  ;  a  species  of  imprisonment,  which  became  com- 
mon  in  the  sequel  of  this,  and  the  subsequent  reigns. 

The  defection  of  Armenia  from  the  alliance  of  the  Romans 
to  that  of  the  Parthians,  the  occasion  upon  which  it  had 
been  pretended  that  Tiberius  was  destined  to  command  in 
Asia,  still  subsisted  ;  but  the  command  of  the  armies  in  that 
part  of  the  world,  with  the  charge  of  recovering  the  kingdom 
of  Armenia  to  its  former  state  of  dependence  on  Rome,  was 
committed  to  Caius  Cesar,  now  first  in  the  favour  of  tha 
emperor,  and  highest  in  the  expectations  of  the  people.* 

The  king  of  Parthia,  upon  the  arrival  of  the  young  Cesar 
in  his  neighbourhood,  desired  to  have  a  conference  with  him, 
and  they  met  on  the  Euphrates  in  a  small  island,  each  hav- 
ing an  equal  number  of  attendants.  They  afterwards 
mutually  accepted  of  entertainments  from  each  other  in 
their  respective  quarters.  Phraates  agreed  not  to  support 
the  Armenians^  in  their  defection  from  the  alliance  of  the 
Romans,  and  Caius  proceeded  to  take  possession  of  their 
country,  as  a  province  of  Rome.  On  his  approach  to 
Antagera,  a  place  on  the  frontier  of  Armenia,  the  gates 
being  shut  against  him,  he  presented  himself  under  the  walls, 
and  while  he  summoned  the  governor  to  surrender,  was 
struck  by  an  arrow  from  the  battlements.  The  wound  he 
received,  though  in  appearance  not  mortal,  affected  his 
health,  and  threw  him  into  a  state  of  dejection  and  languor, 

*U.  C.  754. 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  535 

in  which  he  desired  to  be  recalled  from  his  station,  and  ex- 
pressed his  disgust  to  at} airs  of  state. 

Cains  being  permitted  to  retire  from  his  command  by 
the  emperor,  who  was  mortified  to  find  in  him  a  pusillan- 
imity so  unworthy  of  the  son  of  Agrippa,  and  of  his  own 
successor,  was  carried  to  the  coast  in  a  litter,  and  there 
embarked  for  Italy  ;  but  having  on  his  way  put  into  a  port 
of  Lycia,  he  died  at  Lymira  in  that  province.* 

Lucius,  the  other  grandson  of  Augustus,  by  his  daughter 
Julia,  died  some  time  before  at  Marseilles,  in  his  way  to 
Spain,  the  army  of  which  he  had  been  appointed  to  com- 
mand ;  and  these  deaths  happening  so  opportunely  for  the 
family  of  Li  via,  laid  this  designing  woman  under  suspicion 
of  having  been  active  in  procuring1  them.  The  bodies  of 
the  deceased  were  borne  through  the  provinces  by  officers 
of  rank,  and  by  the  principal  inhabitants,  to  be  interred  at 
Koine. 

About  this  time,  the  third  period  of  ten  years,  for  which 
the  emperor  had  accepted  of  the  government,  being  expired, 
he  went  through  the  form  of  laying  down,  and  of  re-assum- 
ing his  power.  He  was  now  in  the  decline  of  life,  had 
survived  his  principal  confidants  and  friends,  his  nephew 
and  grandchildren,  on  whom  he  had  rested  his  hopes. 
Under  these  circumstances,  and  from  the  approach  of  old 
age,  he  was  observed  to  languish  and  to  lose  much  of  his 
former  vivacity.  Tiberius  had  been  recalled  to  Rome  soon 
after  the  departure,  and  before  the  death  of  the  two  Cesars. 
Upon  this  last  eve«»t,  he  was  adopted  by  the  emperor :  bu 
on  condition,  that  he  himself,  though  a  father,  having  a  son, 
already  mentioned,  of  the  name  of  Drusus,  by  his  first  wife 
Vipsania,  should  nevertheless  adopt  Germanicus  Cesar,  the 
son  of  his  brother,  who  being  elder  than  his  own  son,  was 
intended  to  have  the  advantage  of  seniority  in  all  their 
future  pretensions. 

This  successor  to  Agrippa  and  his  family,  being  now  the 
adopted  son  of  Augustus,  and  heir  apparent  of  his  fortunes, 
had  everywhere  a  numerous  attendance  of  persons  who 
wished  to  pay  their  court.t  Being  appointed  to  his  former 
station,  at  the  head  of  the  armies  on  the  Rhine,  his  progres* 
through  the  provinces  to  that  frontier,  was  marked  by  the 
multitudes  who  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  receive  him. 
In  his  first  campaign  he  penetrated  to  the  Weser,  and  over- 
ran all  the  nations  of  that  neighbourhood. 

The  emperor,  relying  upon  his  newly  adopted  son  for  the 
conduct  of  the  war  on  the  Rhine,  remained  at  Rome,  when 

•  U.  C.  755.  *  U.  C.  754. 


536  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

he  was  employed  chiefly  in  reforming-  the  senate,  and  in 
rebuilding  the  palace  which  had  been  lately  consumed  by 
fire. 

As  the  present  government  began  to  have  proscription, 
as  well  as  expediency  on  its  side,  every  attempt  on  the 
emperor's  life  had  the  criminality  of  treason.  Some 
attempts  of  this  sort,  however,  did  take  place  during-  the 
present  reign.  Even  in  this  advanced  period  of  it,  a  con- 
spiracy was  detected,  in  which  Cornelius  Cinna,  a  grandson 
of  Pompey,  and  descended  of  that  Cinna,  who,  together 
with  Caius  Marius,  was  once  at  the  head  of  the  popular 
faction,  formed  a  design  to  suppress  the  present  usurpation 
of  Cesar,  and  to  restore  the  republic,  in  which  his  ancestors 
had  made  so  conspicuous  a  figure.  On  the  discovery  of  this 
plot,  the  emperor  ordered  that  the  conspirator  should  be 
introduced  to  his  presence,  gave  him  to  understand  that  his 
guilt  was  discovered,  and  his  accomplices  known,  remon- 
strated against  an  attempt  so  ungenerous  and  unprovoked, 
but  relieved  the  young  man  of  his  fears,  by  figuring-  him 
of  pardon,  and  of  every  other  species  of  protoc-  ion  for  the 
future.  He  concluded  by  declaring  he  should  be  glad  to 
receive  his  applications  in  any  matter  by  which  he  could 
contribute  to  his  advancement  or  interest ;  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  named  him  for  consul  at  the  next  succession  to  this 
dignity. 

In  this  year  are  dated,  among  other  measures,  some  re- 
gulations which  were  made  by  the  emperor  for  the  better 
government  of  the  army.  *  The  military  establishment 
consisted  of  six-and-twenty  legions,  with  nine  or  ten  pre- 
torian  bands,  composed  of  a  thousand  men  each.  Augustus, 
to  restore  the  honour  of  the  military  character,  had,  from 
the  beginning  of  his  reign,  made  it  a  rule  to  exclude  from 
his  armies,  as  much  as  possible,  all  emancipated  slaves. 
This  exclusion,  together  Avith  some  reformations  which 
diminished  the  profits  formerly  enjoyed  by  military  men, 
rendered  it  extremely  difficult,  upon  a*ny  sudden  emergency, 
to  coir»£  •-  -,te  the  legions.  Augustus  found  himself  obliged 
to  increase  his  bounty  in  order  to  recruit  the  army ;  but 
instead  of  giving  more  to  those  who  enlisted,  or  increasing 
his  levy-money,  he  chose  to  engage  them  by  the  hope  of 
future  advantages,  to  be  reaped  after  certain  periods  of 
dutiful  service.  In  the  pretorian  bands,  he  made  a  regula- 
tion, that,  after  sixteen  years'  service,  the  veteran  should 
be  entitled  to  his  dismission,  with  a  premium  of  twenty 
thousand  sesterces ;  f  and  in  the  legions,  after  twelve  years' 

*  U.  C.  757.  t  About  160J. 


CM.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  537 

service,  that  he  should  be  intitlecl  to  twelve  thousand 
sesterces* . 

The  public  was  now  alarmed  with  earthquakes  and  inunda- 
tions of  rivers,  which,  however  destructive,  were  considered 
more  as  the  presages  of  future  calamities  than  as  presen 
evils,  and  their  significance  in  that  point  of  view  was  con- 
firmed by  a  famine,  which  immediately  followed  or  accom- 
panied these  events.  The  inundation  of  tlie  Tiber  had 
overflowed  the  city  for  many  days,  so  as  to  make  it  neces- 
sary to  pass  through  the  streets  in  boats.  The  markets 
could  not  be  supplied;  and  this  circumstance,  joined  to  a 
real  scarcity,  which  kept  up  the  prices  after  the  inundation 
subsided,  occasioned  a  dearth  which  lasted  for  some  years. 

During  this  time  of  distress,  it  being  thought  impossible 
to  find  the  usual  supply  of  provisions,  it  was  judged  neces- 
sary to  lessen  the  usual  consumption  ;  and  for  this  purpose 
all  gladiators,  all  slaves  kept  for  sale,  and  all  foreigners, 
except  physicians  and  public  teachers,  were  ordered  to  be 
removed  a  hundred  miles  from  the  city.f  liven  the  servants 
nnd  attendants  of  the  court  were  dismissed  in  great  num- 
bers, and  a  vacation  was  proclaimed  in  the  courts  of  justice 
in  order  that  as  many  as  could  possibly  be  spared  from  the 
city  should  depart. 

The  emperor  appears  now  to  have  committed  himself, 
without  any  prospect  of  change,  to  the  influence  of  Livi.i 
and  her  family  ;  and  to  confirm  him  in  this  disposition,  the 
surviving  Agrippa,  being  of  a  rude  and  brutal  disposition, 
gave  his  antagonist  every  advantage  in  their  supposed 
competition.  Having,  about  this  time,  given  some  flagrant 
proof  of  this  character  in  his  behaviour  to  Li  via,  and  even 
to  the  emperor  himself,  he  was  degraded  from  his  place  in 
the  family  of  Cesar,  and  sent,  under  a  military  guard,  to  the 
island  of  Planasia,  near  to  Corsica,  where  he  remained  a 
prisoner  during  the  remainder  of  this  reign. 

From  the  disgrace  of  Agrippa  Fosthumus,  it  was  no 
longer  doubtful  that  Tiberius  was  destined  to  inherit  the 
fortunes  and  power  of  Augustus,  i  .e  alone  was  intrusted 
wherever  great  armies  were  to  be  assembled,  and  was 
employed  in  every  service  that  was  likely  to  end  with 
ustre.  After  having  penetrated,  in  his  last  campaign,  to 
the  Weser  and  the  Elbe,  he  was  railed  oil  to  support  hU 
eephew  and  adopted  son  (lennanicns,  who,  commanding 
the  army  on  the  side  of  Dalmatia,  found  himself  too  weak 
to  execute  the  service  on  which  he  h;nl  been  employed. 

Tin?  provinces   east   of  the   Hadriniic,  and  from   thenea 

*  About  Ji'OJ.  «  U.  C.  758. 


638  HISTORY  OF  THfc  (b.  VI. 

piobably  to  the  Danube,  had  formed  the  plan  of  a  genera* 
revolt.*  It  was  reported,  at  this  time,  that  those  nation 
could  assemble  eight  hundred  thousand  men,  and  that  they 
had  two  hundred  thousand  foot  properly  armed,  with  nine 
thousand  horse.  Being  so  powerful  in  point  of  numbers, 
they  were  enabled  to  divide  their  strength,  and  to  carry  on 
operations,  at  the  same  time,  in  different  places.  They 
destined  one  part  of  their  force  to  invade  Itaty,  by  Tergeste 
and  Nauportus;  another  to  take  possession  of  Macedonia; 
and  a  third  to  defend  their  own  possessions  at  home.  They 
gave  the  first  intimation  of  their  hostile  intentions  by  a 
general  massacre  of  the  Romans,  who,  as  provincial  officers 
or  traders,  were  settled  in  the  country,  and  cut  off  all  the 
military  posts  which  had  been  advanced  to  protect  them. 
They  entered  Macedonia  without  opposition,  and  with  fire 
and  sword  laid  waste  all  the  possessions  and  settlements  of 
the  Romans  in  that  province. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  a  war  with  the  barbarous 
nations  of  the  northern  and  eastern  frontier  of  the  empire, 
which,  during  some  ages,  was,  at  intervals,  interrupted  and 
resumed,  often  put  Italy  itself  upon  the  defensive,  was 
always  formidable,  and  at  last  fatal  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Rome.  The  Romans,  by  the  continual  labours  of  seven 
centuries,  had  made  their  way  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Rhine 
and  the  Danube,  through  the  territory  of  warlike  hordes 
who  opposed  them,  and  over  forests  and  rugged  ways  that 
were  everywhere  to  be  cleared  at  the  expense  of  their 
labour  and  their  blood ;  but  the  ways  they  had  made  to 
reach  their  enemies  were  now  open,  in  their  turn,  for 
enemies  to  reach  them.  The  ample  resources  which  they 
had  formed  by  their  cultivation  increased  the  temptation  to 
invade  them,  and  facilitated  all  the  means  of  making  war 
upon  their  country.  By  reducing  the  inhabitants  of  their 
provinces,  in  every  part,  to  pacific  subjects,  they  brought 
the  defence  of  the  empire  to  depend  on  a  few  professional 
soldiers  who  composed  the  legions. 

Under  apprehension  of  these  circumstances,  new  levies 
were  accordingly  made,  and  the  order  not  to  enlist  emanci- 
pated slaves  was  suspended.}  The  veterans,  who  had  been 
discharged  from  the  legions,  were  again  ordered  to  repair 
to  their  colours ;  and  citizens  of  every  condition  were  re- 
quired to  furnish,  in  proportion  to  their  estates  or  posses- 
sions, certain  quotas  of  men  for  the  service.  Great  efforts 
too  were  made  to  keep  the  enemy  at  a  distance,  and  to  fix 
the  seat  of  the  war  in  their  own  country.  Tiberius  ad- 

«   U.  C.  759.  i   U.  C.  760.  *  U.  C.  761. 


0*.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  639 

vanced  for  this  purpose  into  Dalmatia,  and  the  emperor 
himself  set  out  for  Ariminum,  that  he  might  be  nearer  the 
scene  of  operations  to  receive  reports,  to  profit  by  intelli- 
gence, and  to  give  directions. 

Tiberius  upon  his  arrival  in  Dalmatia,  found  the  barba- 
rians, who  had  invaded  that  country,  commanded  by  two 
leaders  of  the  names  of  Bato  and  Pinetes.  He  formed  his 
own  army  into  three  divisions,  commanded  by  Gerrnanicus, 
Silvanus  Lepidus,  and  himself.  By  this  disposition  he  be- 
gun his  operations  in  three  different  quarters  at  once. 

In  the  service  which  was  committed  to  Silvanus  Lepi- 
dus, he  met  with  little  resistance.*  Where  he  himself 
commanded,  the  Romans  were  long  detained  in  the  block- 
ade of  a  castle,  where  Bato  had  taken  p*st  with  a  numer- 
ous body  of  his  countrymen  ;  and  being  provided  with 
necessaries,  endeavoured  to  tire  out  the  enemy ;  but,  in 
the  end,  found  means  to  escape,  and  left  the  remains  of  his 
sountrymen,  worn  out  with  want  and  impatience,  to  sur- 
render at  discretion. 

Where  Germanicus  commanded,  the  enemy  had  taken 
refuge  in  Anduba,  a  fortress  similarly  situated  with  the  for- 
mer; but  which,  after  repeated  attacks,  was  at  last  put 
into  his  hands  by  the  dissension  of  the  barbarians  who  de- 
fended it.  These,  having  quarrelled,  turned  their  swords 
mutually  against  each  other.  One  of  the  parties  set  the 
quarters  of  their  antagonists  on  fire,  and  both  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  their  enemies.  Many  of  the  women,  to  avoid  cap- 
tivity, threw  themselves,  with  their  children,  into  the 
flames.  Bato  soon  after  surrendered  himself ;  and  being 
asked,  what  tempted  him  to  make  war  upon  the  Romans  ? 
made  answer,  "  You  affect  to  treat  every  nation  as  your 
flocks  and  your  property  ;  but  you  intrust  the  care  of  them 
to  ravenous  wolves,  not  to  shepherds  and  their  dogs.1' 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  title  of  imperator,  with  the  tri- 
umphal ornaments,  were  decreed  to  Tiberius,  and  to  his 
Adopted  son  Germanicus ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  rejoicings 
which  were  made  on  this  occasion,  accounts  of  a  different 
nature  were  received  from  the  Rhine. 

The  Romans,  wishing  to  command  the  passage  of  tho 
river,  had  occupied,  as  has  been  observed,  some  country, 
and  fortified  some  stations  on  the  German  side.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  disposition,  the  Germans  had,  for  some  &no, 
discontinued  the  practice  of  making  incursions  into  Gacu. 
They  were  become  familiar  with  the  Roman  array  that 
was  stationed  iii  their  country,  exchanged  commodititt 

*  U.  C.  7G*. 


540  HISTORY  OP  THE  £B.  VI. 

with  the  Roman  traders,  and  began  to  imitate  their  man- 
ners. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  nntiom  situated  between  the 
Rhine  and  the  Weser,  when  O,uiutilius  Varus,  who  had 
been  left  by  Tiberius  in  the  command  of  the  German  fron- 
tier, began  to  consider  the  natives  of  the  country  around 
him  as  ripe  for  the  ordinary  impositions  which  the  Romans 
laid  on  their  subject-;,  and  made  some  exactions  for  the  sup- 
ply of  his  army. 

ivome  chiefs  or  leaders  of  the  neighbourhood,  particularly 
£eglmerus,  prince  of  the  Chatti,  and  his  son  Arminius,  had 
observed,  with  indignation,  these  encroachments  of  the 
Koman  general,  and  the  gradual  decline  of  their  country 
into  a  Roman  province.  Being  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
«tnton,  and  much  respected  by  all  the  nations  of  that  quar- 
ter, they  entered  into  a  concert  to  cut  oil'  all  the  Romans 
that  were  posted  on  the  German  side  of  the  Rhine  ;  and  to 
restore  the  independence  of  their  people.  They  concealed 
their  design  by  redoubling  their  attention  to  the  Roman 
general ;  took  their  residence  in  his  quarters,  and  served 
him  as  guides  in  conducting  the  inarches,  and  in  fixing  the 
stations  of  his  army. 

While,  by  these  artifices,  Segiraerus  and  Arminius  lulled 
the  Roman  general  into  perfect  security,  they  had  their 
followers  ready  to  assemble  under  arms,  brought  all  the 
chieftains  of  their  neighbourhood  under  engagements  to 
join  them,  procured  an  insurrection  of  some  of  the  cantons 
over  which  Segimerus  claimed  a  supremacy,  and  implored 
the  assistance  of  the  Roman  army  in  suppressing  the  revolt. 
Varus  put  his  army  in  motion  to  quell  this  pretended  rebel- 
lion, and  advanced  through  difficult  ways  into  the  interior 
parts  of  the  country.  On  this  march  he  was  attended  by 
Segimerus  and  Arminius,  who  had  assembled  their  forces, 
and  brought  forth  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring 
country,  under  pretence  of  acting  as  irregulars  to  cover  the 
march  of  the  Roman  legions.  In  performing  this  service, 
they  pervaded  the  marshes  and  woods  in  his  front,  on  his 
fanks,  and  his  rear,  and  had  actually  surrounded  him,  when 
lie  came  upon  the  ground  on  which  they  proposed  to  make 
their  attack. 

Here  the  forests  and  marshes  were  extensive  and  impas- 
sable, except  by  a  single  tract.  The  Romans  were  crowded 
together,  and  entangled  with  their  baggage;  and  being  in 
this  condition  attacked  from  every  quarter  at  once,  were 
nimble  to  resist  or  to  escape.  Varus  succeeded  in  gaining 
An  opening  which  appeared  at  some  distance  in  the  woods ; 
lad  there,  with  as  many  as  could  follow  him,  attempted  to 


CH.  IV.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  641 

intrench  himself;  but  the  greater  part  of  the  army  fell  by 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  At  night,  seeing  no  hopes  of  a  re- 
treat, the  general  himself  fell  upon  his  own  sword,  and  by 
his  example  induced  many  officers  and  soldiers  to  employ 
the  same  means  of  avoiding  the  cruelties  or  insults  to  which 
they  were  exposed. 

It  had  been  concerted  by  the  Germans,  that  on  the  same 
day  every  Roman  post  in  their  country  should  be  attacked. 
Lucius  Ceditius,  who  commanded  at  Aliso,  now  supposed 
to  be  Elsemberg,  being  surrounded  by  superior  numbers, 
forced  his  way  through  the  enemy,  and,  under  the  greatest 
distresses,  arrived  on  the  Rhine.  All  the  other  posts  were 
forced,  and  the  troops  who  had  occupied  them  taken  or 
killed. 

The  Romans,  OH  this  occasion,  lost  three  entire  legions, 
or  about  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  a  considerable  body  of 
horse.  Asprenas  having  remained  on  the  German  side  of 
the  Rhine  only  until  he  had  collected  the  remains  of  the 
Roman  army  which  had  escaped  from  this  calamity,  with- 
drew into  Gaul. 

The  first  accounts  of  this  disaster  were  received  at  Rome 
with  the  highest  degree  of  consternation.  The  victorious 
enemy  having  cut  off  what  was  considered  as  the  strength 
of  the  empire  on  the  Rhine,  were  supposed  to  be  following 
at  the  heels  of  the  messenger  who  brought  the  news.  The 
sacred  records  were  consulted,  to  find  what  religious  pro- 
cessions or  ceremonies  had  been  performed  on  the  invasion 
of  the  Cimbri,  and  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Marsic  war, 
and  the  same  rites  were  now  to  be  repeated.  The  emperor 
put  on  mourning,  and  for  some  months  carried  in  his  looks, 
and  in  the  neglect  of  his  person,  every  appearance  of  dis- 
tress. It  was  given  out  that,  in  the  first  transport  of  grief, 
he  struck  his  head  on  the  wall  of  his  chamber.  The  Ger- 
mans and  Gauls,  that  were  at  Rome,  were  secured  and  sent 
into  the  islands  on  the  coasts  of  Italy.  All  citizens  were 
ordered  to  arm,  and  many  disappeared  from  the  streets,  to 
avoid  being  pressed  to  serve  in  the  legions.  The  forces 
which  were  brought  in  this  manner  to  the  emperor's  standard, 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  Tiberius  ;  ami  as  fast 
as  they  could  be  put  into  a  regular  form,  began  to  move 
towards  Gaul. 

In  these  measures  the  Romans  acted  more  from  their 
own  fears,  than  from  a  just  apprehension  of  what  was  to  be 
expected  from  trie  enemy ;  and  the  Germans,  on  this  occa- 
sion, made  no  attempt  to  pursue  their  victory,  and  re- 
mained quiet  in  their  own  possessions. 

Of  the  Clau<liaii  family,  on  whom  Ui«  sovereign  power 
TT  n 


542  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

seemed  already  to  devolve,  Germanicus,  the  grandson  of 
Livia  by  Drusus,  the  younger  of  her  sons,  was  most  in 
favour  with  the  people.  He  was  recommended  by  an  ap- 
pearance of  openness  and  candour  in  his  manners,  and  by  the 
facility  with  which  he  engaged,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  ancient  republic,  in  the  defence  of  his  clients,  and  in 
pleading  their  causes,  whether  before  the  emperor  himselt, 
or  before  the  ordinary  judges.  Tiberius,  on  the  contrary, 
seemed  to  be  of  a  dark  and  suspicious  temper,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  cover,  under  the  appearances  of  moderation,  which 
he  studied  to  preserve  in  public  and  in  presence  of  the  em- 
peror, a  jealous  and  cruel  disposition.  But  Livia,  who,  in 
the  present  period  of  her  husband's  life,  had  the  entire 
government  of  him,  preferred  her  son  to  her  grandson,  and 
employed  all  her  influence  to  make  the  choice  of  a  successor 
fall  on  Tiberius. 

The  emperor,  in  the  mean  time,  pleased  with  the  respite 
from  trouble  which  these  delegates  of  Ms  power  endeavoured 
to  procure  for  him,  reposed,  himself  much  on  their  care,  and 
was  pleased  to  be  supplied  with  every  change  of  amuse- 
ment or  pleasure  for  which  it  was  known  that  he  had  any 
relish.  In  the  decline  of  life,  as  he  withdrew  from  the 
senate,  so  he  desired  to  be  excused  from  receiving  the  visits 
of  the  members,  or  even  of  his  private  friends ;  and,  under 
pretence  of  being  much  occupied  with  the  troubles  which 
still  subsisted  on  the  frontiers  of  the  empire,  he  declined 
going  into  company  upon  any  occasion  whatever. 

While  the  emperor  thus,  in  a  great  measure,  withdrew 
from  the  public  view,  the  fourth  period  of  ten  years,  for 
which  he  had  accepted  of  the  government,  being  about  to 
expire,  he  again  resumed  his  command  with  the  usual  forms, 
prolonged  the  tribunitian  power  in  the  person  of  Tiberius 
for  other  five  years,  and  permitted  his  son  Drusus  from 
being  questor,  to  be  entered  on  the  list  of  consuls  without 
passing  through  the  rank  of  pretor.* 

Augustus,  in  entering  upon  this  new  period  of  his  govern- 
ment, in  which  he  was  no  longer  to  attend  the  senate  in 
person,  received  from  this  body,  by  a  formal  act,  full  powers, 
with  the  advice  of  his  ordinary  council,  to  determine  all 
questions  of  state,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  his  adoptive 
children,  to  enact  laws  of  equal  authority  with  those  he  had 
formerly  passed  in  the  senate.  These  powers  he  had  already 
exercised ;  and  we  may  suppose  them  to  have  been  thus 
formally  conferred  upon  him,  chiefly  that  it  might  be  made 
to  appear  how  far  the  family  of  Livia,  now  included  in  th« 

*  0.  C.  765. 


CH.  IV.}  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  543 

same  act,  were  raised  to  an  avoAved  participation  of  the 
imperial  authority. 

The  first  consultations  of  this  new  legislature  were  em- 
ployed on  the  subject  of  the  penal  laws,  which,  remaining 
without  any  considerable  change  from  the  times  of  the  re- 
public, were  still,  in  respect  to  the  forms  of  trial,  better 
calculated  to  protect  the  subject  than  to  gratify  the  passions 
of  the  sovereign.  Banishment,  by  which,  under  the  re- 
public, criminals  were  at  liberty  to  evade  any  sentence,  an  1 
which,  in  reality,  had  nothing  grievous  besides  the  circum- 
stance of  their  being  obliged  to  travel  from  Rome,  and  to 
forego  city  preferments  and  honours,  was,  by  a  regulation 
now  made,  rendered  more  severe,  and  not  suffered  to  re- 
main, as  the  courtiers  termed  them,  a  mere  elusion  of  justice. 
So  far  the  transition  from  the  jealousy  of  the  citizen 
against  the  severities  o4government,  which  is  a  part  in  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  to  the  jealousy  of  the  prince  against  the 
license  of  his  subjects,  which  equally  belongs  to  monarchy, 
was  abundantly  mild ;  but  even  this  law,  under  the  prospect 
of  its  immediate  application,  gave  weight  to  the  chains  with 
which  every  citizen  already  felt  himself  loaded.  It  was  not 
the  law  itself  indeed,  so  much  as  the  arbitrary  application 
of  it,  that  was  likely  to  deprive  every  Roman  of  that  degree 
of  personal  freedom  to  which  he  still  had  pretensions. 

In  the  same  year  Tiberius  was  associated  with  Augustus 
in  the  government,  and  declared  to  have  equal  power  with 
the  emperoi  himself  in  all  the  provinces  within  his  depart- 
ment.* On  this  occasion  there  being  some  disorders  sub 
sisting  on  the  side  of  Dalmatia  and  Illyricum,  which  seemed 
to  require  the  presence  of  this  new  associate  in  the  empire, 
and  he  being  to  set  out  for  this  province,  Augustus  was 
pleased  to  accompany  him  on  the  road  to  Beneventum. 
They  went  to  Astura  by  land  ;  but  as  Augustus,  when  the 
wind  was  favourable,  always  preferred  going  by  water,  they 
embarked  at  this  place,  and  steered  for  the  coast  of 
Campania.  On  their  passage,  Augustus  was  seized  with  a 
dysentery  ;  but  continued,  as  on  a  party  of  pleasure,  to  visit 
the  different  islands  in  the  bay  of  Naples.  From  Naples 
where  he  appeared  in  good  spirits,  he  continued  his  route  to 
Beneventum,  where  Tiberius,  being  to  embark  at  Brun- 
Jusium,  took  his  leave,  and  the  emperor  set  out  on  his  re- 
turn to  Rome.  Augustus  finding  hia  strength  decline  on  a 
sudden,  halted  at  Nola,  a  place  in  which  his  family  had 
originally  some  possessions,  and  at  which  his  father  died. 
From  the  time  of  las  arrival  at  this  place  he  refused  to 

*  U.  C.  766. 


544  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

listen  to  any  business.  On  the  morning-  of  the  18th  of 
August,  he  asked  if  his  illness  had  caused  any  tumults  or 
insurrections,  called  for  a  mirror,  and  desired  to  be  dressed. 
He  said  to  those  who  attended  him,  "  What  think  you  now  ? 
Have  I  acted  my  part  properly  ?"  then  repeated  the  form 
with  which  actors  commonly  ended  the  representation  of  a 
play,  desiring  the  audience,  that  if  the  piece  was  to  their  liking 
they  should  applaud.  "  1  found,"  he  said,  "  a  city  of  brick, 
and  changed  it  into  marble."  In  this  he  alluded  to  his  policy 
in. the  state,  as  well  as  to  his  buildings  at  Rome. 

Augustus  died  at  three  in  the  afternoon  of  the  eighteenth 
of  August  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  body 
was  immediately  transported  to  Rome,  by  a  numerous  com- 
pany of  the  equestrian  order. 

The  senate  met  to  deliberate  on  the  honours  to  be  paid  at 
the  funeral ;  and  the  members  vied  jvith  each  other  in  the 
proposals  they  made  to  exalt  the  dead,  and  to  express  their 
own  sorrow. 

At  this  funeral  two  orations  were  pronounced;  one  by 
Tiberius,  who  had  been  recalled  on  the  near  approach  of 
the  emperor's  death ;  the  other  by  Drusus,  the  son  of 
Tiberius,  on  whom  the  name  and  inheritance  of  Cesar  had 
now  devolved. 


CHAP.  V. 

The  Will  of  Augustus— Review  of  his  Reign— And  of  his  character — 
Tibenus  returns  to  Nola— Issues  without  delay  his  orders  throughout  the 
Empire— In  the  Senate  qjfects  Reluctance  to  charge  hitntelf  with  the 
Government — Mutiny  in  Panonia — On  the  Rhine — Second  Mutiny  on 
the  Arrival  of  Deputies  from  the  Senate — Imposture  of  Clemens — Plot 
of  Libo— Description  of  Tiberius— Death  oj  Germanicus — And  Trial 
ofl>iso. 

AUGUSTUS  had  made  his  will  about  sixteen  months  before 
ho  died,  bequeathing  two-thirds  of  his  estate  to  Tiberius, 
the  other  third  to  Li  via,  with  an  injunction  to  take  th« 
names  of  Julia  and  Augusta.  In  succession  to  Livia  and 
her  son  he  substituted  the  younger  Drusus,  the  son  of  Tibe- 
rius, for  a  third ;  and  overlooking  Claudius,  one  of  the  sons 
of  the  elder  Drusus  and  grandson  of  Livia,  he  bequeathed 
the  remainder  to  the  brother,  Germanicus  Cesar,  and  his 
offspring,  already  consisting  of  three  sons  and  as  many 
daughters.  To  this  numerous  list  of  heirs  he  substituted 
an  ostentatious  catalogue  of  principal  citizens  and  senators  i 


CH.  V.)  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  545 

but  persisted  so  ranch  in  his  severity  to  the  unhappy  Julia, 
as  to  forbid  her  a  place  in  his  monument. 

After  his  will  was  read,  four  separate  memorials  were 
produced.  The  first  contained  instructions  for  his  funeral ; 
the  second,  a  list  of  the  actions  which  he  wished  to  have 
recorded  on  his  tomb ;  the  third,  a  state  of  the  republic,  in- 
eluding  the  military  establishment,  the  distribution  of  the 
legions,  the  revenue,  the  public  disbursements,  the  money 
actually  lodged  in  the  treasury,  the  arrears  of  taxes  that 
\\  ere  due,  with  a  reference  to  the  persons  in  whose  hands 
the  vouchers  were  to  be  found. 

The  fourth  memorial  contained  political  instructions  or 
maxims,  in  which  he  dissuaded  the  people  from  the  too 
frequent  manumission  of  slaves,  and  from  the  too  easy  ad- 
mission of  foreigners  to  the  dignity  of  Roman  citizens ; 
and  recommended  filling  offices  of  state  with  persons  of  ex- 
perience and  reputation.  The  public  service,  he  observed, 
never  should  be  intrusted  to  a  single  officer,  nor  all  the 
powers  of  the  commonwealth  be  Buttered  to  accumulate  in 
the  hands  of  any  one  person.  Such  exclusive  trusts,  he 
said,  must  lead  to  abuse,  and  end  in  a  scarcity  of  persons  fit 
to  be  employed. 

It  is  said,  that  in  this  memorial  the  emperor  concluded 
with  an  injunction  not  to  attempt  any  farther  conquest,  or 
any  farther  extension  of  the  empire.  » 

Such  are  the  principal  circumstances  upon  record,  from 
which  we  are  able  to  collect  the  character  of  this  celebrated 
reign.  The  immediate  effects  of  it,  in  many  parts,  appear 
to  have  been  splendid  and  salutary.  Among  these  we  are 
to  reckon  the  cessation  of  wars,  and  the  reformation  of 
government  in  the  provinces.  Under  this  establishment, 
instead  of  the  consuls,  who,  being  annually  elected  by  the 
people,  as  often  renewed  the  passion  of  their  country  for 
war  and  conquest,  there  began  a  succession  of  emperors  who 
were  addicted  to  sloth  and  sensuality,  more  than  to  ambi- 
tion; or  if  disposed  to  war,  who  in  youth,  or  in  some  par- 
ticular period  of  life,  exhausted  their  passion  for  military 
fame,  and  became  from  thenceforward  a  powerful  restraint 
on  the  ambition  of  their  own  officers.  These  they  con- 
sidered as  rivals  and  objects  of  jealousy,  or  as  dangerous 
instruments,  ever  ready  to  involve  them  in  wars  abroad,  to 
disturb  their  government  at  home,  or  to  divert  their  re- 
venue from  those  pleasurable  applications  in  which  they 
wished  to  employ  it. 

Whatever  was  lost  to  citizens  of  rank  or  high  pretension 
at  Rome,  by  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy,  was  gained 
to  the  other  subjects  of  the  empire.  The  provinces,  from 


540  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

being  the  temporary  property  of  individuals,  and  stript  to 
enrich  a  succession  of  masters,  became  the  continued  sub- 
jects of  a  sovere  en.  \vlio  as  otten  as  he  understood  his  own 
interest,  protected  them  against  the  oppression  of  his  offi- 
cers, and  spared  or  nursed  them  as  a  continual  source  of 
revenue  and  of  power  to  himself. 

While  these  desirable  effects  naturally  resulted  from  the 
new  establishment,  many  circumstances  of  great  lustre  i:i 
the  history  of  the  age  were  ascribed  to  the  sovereign.  The 
seeds  of  ingenuity  and  of  liberal  arts,  which  had  been  sown, 
and  which  were  already  sprung  up  with  so  much  vigour 
under  the  republic,  now  began  to  be  reaped  in  a  plentiful 
harvest. 

Literature,  and  all  the  more  agreeable  fruits  of  ingenuity, 
received  under  the  first  emperor  a  peculiar  degree  of  at- 
tention and  encouragement.  Augustus  w;\<  himself  a  pro- 
ficient in  letters,  or,  willing  to  be  amused  with  the  pursuits 
of  the  learned,  read  his  own  productions  in  the  circle  of  his 
friends;  and,  what  is  more  difficult  for  an  author,  heard 
without  jealousy  the  compositions  of  others,  by  which  his 
own  were  probably  far  excelled.  He  had  saved  from  the 
wreck  of  his  enemy's  party,  protected  from  the  oppression 
of  his  own,  and  selected,  as  his  favourite's,  the  most  ingeni- 
ous men  of  the  times.  By  his  munificence  to  these,  his 
own  name,  as  well  as  that  of  his  minister,  has  become  pro- 
verbial in  the  history  of  letters,  and  is  deeply  inscribed  on 
monuments  which  can  never  perish,  except  by  some  cala- 
mity fatal  to  mankind. 

The  provinces  greatly  diversified  in  respect  to  situation, 
climate,  and  soil,  as  well  as  in  respect  to  the  arts  which  they 
severally  possessed,  having  the  benefit  of  general  peace,  and 
the  protection  of  a  common  sovereign,  reaped  the  advan- 
tage of  an  easy  communication  and  a  flourishing  trade.  Al! 
the  surplus  wealth  of  the  more  cultivated  parts  of  the  earth 
being  drawn  to  the  capital,  and  being  at  the  disposal  «>f 
single  men,  was  expended  in  works  of  magnificence,  and  f 
not  of  utility,  at  least  of  splendid  caprice. 

The  rough  and  vigorous  hands  by  which  this  great  em  - 
pire  was  formed,  had  carried  the  balance  and  the  sword  <>! 
state  before  they  could  manage  the  tools  of  the  more  ordi- 
nary and  inferior  arts,  and  had  given  empire  to  their  coun- 
try, before  they  had  provided  for  themselves  the  ordinary 
means  of  accommodation  or  pleasure.  In  proportion,  how- 
ever, as  this  nation  of  masters  forced  into  their  service  thu 
industrious  and  the  learned  in  different  parts  of  the  earth, 
the  practitioners  of  every  art,  and  the  professors  of  every 
science  nocked  to  the  capital.  Their  productions,  though 


CB.  V.,  U  O.MAN    KKi'UJJLlC.  547 

spurned  ami  rejected  ;it   in  t,  u  I  by  degrees ; 

even   I!  I. tin-lit  to  become  ;uh   I  -  ami  me,  I 

ninl,  l»y  following  a  multiplicity  of  inferior  pursuits  nnd 
occupation-,  were  taught  ti^lower  the  haughty  pint  ,.|  tint 
conquerors  (it  the  world,  to  tin-  level  of  tin-  n.il  ton  ,  |  bey  h;ul 
subdued. 

In    tin-    time;    immediately    preceding    tln>     civil 
foreign  Ic-ttc-rs.  though  loudly  received  l.y  many  of  tl 
citi/ciH  of   Koine,   were  still  a  novelty,  and   ' 
the  |>eop!e  as  u  foppish  allectaliou.      Itut  the  I. 
fashion  being  tin-  lir-,1  olhci-i  >  ami  Kfrati^t  im-n  ot  tin 
B3  Lucullus,  Cicero,  C'at.i,  ami   Ci^ar;   Midi   illn-tiio 
ampli>H  soon  rt-niovc-.l  every  pr«'.jiidi«'«i,  ami  <>IIK<WI|,  in  tha 
pursuit  of  Icurniiiff,  every  talent  that  could  he  <iu  eried  d  ,,ui 
the  more    violent   puivuils  ot  amhition   or   plea-ure.      '1  |l(- 
civil  wars  for  HOIIH*  time  retanh-d  the  progn 
but,  when  brought,  to  an  eml,  lelt  the  puhlic  in  pi. 
«.|  the  bias  it  had  receiveil. 

Th.-  circnm  |.ecnliailv   rl  ..    tlm 

reign,  were  tho  judgment  ami  a«hlre  |  with  which  the  em- 
peror repressed  the  licence  of  tlie  military,  to  whom  lie 
owed  hi-,  own  elevation;  the  artlul  policy  by  which  he 
all. Tied  to  restore  some  fragment  s  ot  t  he  ci\  il  ^overnriUMit 
that  he  himself  had  broken  down,  and  the  caution  \\ilh 
which  he  retained  the  character  and  pio!r,,ion  «.|  u  «-i\il 

•  i  ate  and  of  a  cili/.en,  wlnle  lie  •;.»verned  a  .  a  q 
Joined  to  these,  W<»   may   reckon   the   al.le  choice    \\hich    ho 
made  of  otlicers  lit  to  he  ti  n   t  rd  in  t  he  dillei  cut  department  i 
of    the   public    service  ;    the   <-ou^tancy    \\itli    wbicli    he    p.-r 

I  in  employ  in^  them,  and  the   lil.ei-ahly  \\ith   wliirli 
he  made  them   leel  t  hat.  t  IP  >i    hi,  l<  M  t  une»  wa» 

their  own.       While   he   ^ave    these    indicatiom   of  a  ^reat 

mind,  and  po  ,  e     ,-d  || pou.-ilnl     n|.|.c.it     ..|    a  ),, 

oils  life,  he  di  |H-n.ed  with  much  ot  the  Halter -y  tliai 
to  princes,  and  in  conversation  encoui.i  ••••(  the  m.nr 
a  liee  and  e.pial  -ociety. 

How  then  an-  we  (••  |MU4   i'!"1"    h;  I   chata.-ler,  m  • 
by  appearance  ,  of  pet  tidy,  cru. -It  y,  and  even 
in  Rome   parts  ot    hi  -   life,  di   1 1 11  •  n  i   li.'d    I. v  mo. lei  at  ion,  cl««- 
inency,  and  ^teadine  |  in  oilier  j, 

Hot  appear    to  have   had   Irom    natnie,  in   any  lii^h   d 
tho.e.:  ,   lieiievolence    or  malice  \\  hich   M 

great    «h   tint-ill   Inn"    |.i  in,  i|,l.  ,    ..|     \ntue    and    vice          l|.« 
|<»«Mns  to  have  been  indilleient  to  mankind  ;    l> 
Consideration  and  power,  a-  ob|. 
Hin  ruling  p  io  in. MI.      1 

this    end,    he   committed    many    ciime«;    but    lia\  in 


548  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

effected  his  purpose,  he  had  no  other  criminal  dispositions 
to  gratify  :  or,  after  he  was  sovereign,  standing  in  awe  o. 
a  free  spirit  which  he  durst  not  insult,  he,  either  from  in- 
clination or  policy,  and  probably  in  part  from  both,  preferred, 
as  it  is  surprising  that  every  one  else  does  not  prefer,  the 
proper  use  of  his  power  to  the  abuse  of  it.  Neither  the 
friend  nor  the  enemy  of  mankind,  he  was,  by  his  personal 
and  interested  ambition,  the  cause  of  harm  and  of  good ; 
but  upon  the  whole,  if  the  history  of  the  establishment 
made  by  him  were  to  terminate  with  his  own  life  ;  if  the 
tranquillity  of  his  reign  be  compared  with  the  troubles  of 
the  preceding  period  ;  it  will  furnish,  to  those  who  contend 
for  the  preference  of  despotical  government,  an  occasion  of 
triumph. 

When  Augustus  was  seized  with  his  last  illness,  Tiberius. 
in  the  capacity  of  his  associate  in  the  empire,  as  has  been 
mentioned,  set  out  for  the  armies  in  Dalmatia ;  but  he 
received  on  his  way,  a  message  from  his  mother,  intimating 
the  last  symptoms  of  approaching  death  in  her  husband. 
Upon  this  intimation,  he  returned  to  Nola,  and  arrived 
either  before  Augustus  expired,  or  before  his  death  was 
publicly  known;  and  having  given  out,  that,  in  a  confer- 
ence with  that  experienced  prince,  he  had  received  his  last 
instructions  for  the  government  of  the  empire,  he  took  hold 
of  the  reins  the  moment  the  other  was  supposed  to  have 
dropped  them,  assumed  his  usual  imperial  guards,  and,  by 
sending  orders  to  all  the  provinces  and  military  stations, 
took  upon  him  to  continue  the  same  model  of  government, 
without  any  cessation  or  interval  whatever. 

The  new  emperor,  with  the  usual  precaution  to  stifle 
competitors,  ordered  Agrippa,  the  surviving  grandson  of 
Augustus  to  be  put  to  death,  and  took  every  Other  effectual 
treasure  to  secure  his  own  accession.  At  the  same  time, 
either  in  imitation  of  the  cautious  policy  of  the  late  emperor, 
or  in  pursuance  of  that  hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  to  which 
he  bimself  had  been  long  accustomed,  and  to  which  he  was 
naturally  inclined,  he  affected  to  pay  the  utmost  deference 
to  the  authority  of  the  senate. 

When  the  uenate  was  assembled  for  the  opening  of  the 
will  and  raeinnrials  of  the  late  emperor,  Tiberius,  in  a  hypo- 
critical speech,  affected  to  give  up  the  government  into  their 
hands  ;  and  baseeched  them  not  to  commit  to  one,  what  \vas 
sufficient  to  occupy  the  talents  and  abilities  of  many.  Most 
of  the  members,  though  sufficiently  trained  in  the  school  of 
Augustus,  to  know  the  part  they  were  to  act  on  such  occa- 
sions, had  not  yet  performed  this  part  upon  such  dangerous 
ground.  They  affected  to  believe  that  Tiberius  was  sincere, 


CH.  V.I  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  549 

lamented  that  there  should  be  any  reluctance  to  accept  of 
the  government  in  the  only  person  who  w.is  qualified  to 
undertake  it,  and  they  beseeched  him  not  to  desert  the 
republic  in  this  extremity. 

While  Tiberius,  with  so  much  palpable  craft,  acted  this 
farce  in  the  senate,  his  title  to  the  sovereignty  underwent 
a  more  serious  discussion  in  the  provinces,  The  le-imn 
which  were  posted  in  different  stations  recollected  what 
some  of  them  might  have  seen,  and  all  of  them  had  lieani, 
of  times  in  which  they  were  courted  by  their  leaders,  re- 
tained  with  presents  or  gratuities,  and  rewarded  at  tho 
expiration  of  their  service  with  grants  of  land,  and  settle- 
ments in  the  richest  and  most,  cultivated  districts  of  Italy 
Germanicus,  the  nephew  and  adopted  son  of  Tiber iu>, 
might,  by  his  popularity  and  by  his  pretensions,  have  be- 
come a  formidable  rival  to  his  uncle,  but  was  restrained  by 
his  moderation,  and  the  sense  of  his  duty.  A  mutinous 
spirit  nevertheless  broke  out  first  in  Panonia,  where  three 
legions  were  commanded  by  Junius  Blaesus;  and  after- 
wards on  the  Rhine,  where  a  great  division  of  the  Roman 
armies,  consisting  of  eight  legions,  were  distributed  in 
different  stations,  under  the  chief  command  of  Germanicus 
himself.  The  legions  in  Panonia  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  new  emperor,  until  their  grievances 
should  be  redressed.  They  secured  their  colours,  set  at 
liberty  all  those  who  were  confined  for  any  military  crime, 
and  ceased  to  obey  their  officers,  or  to  pay  any  regard  to 
the  ordinary  duties  and  forms  of  the  service. 

Tiberius,  though  greatly  alarmed,  and  sensible  that  this 
attack  on  his  authority  only  needed  a  fit  leader  at  the  head 
of  a  few  legions  to  roach  him  in  the  capital,  and  to  supplant 
him  in  the  empire,  disguised  his  apprehensions,  and  propos- 
ing to  soothe  the  discontents  of  the  army,  deputed  to  their 
quarters  his  own  sou  Dni~us  accompanied  by  Elius  Se- 
janus,  a  young  man  alroa.ly  a--.ociated  witli  his  father. 
the  emperor's  favourite  minister,  in  the  command  of  t!  •• 
pretorian  bands. 

These  commissioners  were  coldly  received  by  the  mutin- 
ous legions,  and  their  offers  treated  with  contempt.  Tin- 
troops  insulted  their  officers,  and  affected  to  trout  tti" 
authority  of  the  emperor  himsolf  with  contempt  Their 
presumption,  however,  was  suddenly  chockc.l  by  an  eclipse 
which  took  place  in  the  moon,  and,  which,  in  their  super- 
stitious way  of  interpreting  natural  appearances,  formed 
an  emblem  of  their  own  situation,  and  by  its  event  was  to 
prognosticate  the  sequel  of  their  present  attempts.  They 
were  soon  afterwards  persuaded  to  make  seasonable  offer* 
X  v 


550  HISTGrtY  OF  THK  [IJ.  VI. 

of  submission  to  the  prince,  and  ultimately  returned  to 
their  duty. 

On  the  side  of  Germany,  eight  legions  were  placed  at 
two  separate  stations;  one  division  under  Cecina,  on  the 
borders  of  the  low  countries ;  the  other  under  Cains  Silius, 
on  the  Upper  Rhine,  both  under  the  orders  of  Germanicus, 
who  being  adopte.l  into  the  family  of  Cesar,  had  been  vested 
by  Augustus  with  the  command  of  these  armies,  and  with 
the  presidency  of  Gaul.  This  young  man  had  married 
Agrippina,  the  daughter  of  Agrippa  and  of  Julia  Augusta, 
by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  issue,  a  circumstance  gener- 
ally attended  with  great  popular  favour  among  the  Romans. 
The  troops  that  wore  stationed  on  the  borders  of  the  low 
countries  under  Cecina,  considered  themselves,  at  the  death 
of  that  emperor,  as  discharged  from  their  military  oath. 
They  rose  against  their  officers,  killed  most  of  the  cen- 
turions, and  force. I  Cecina,  with  the  tribunes,  to  withdraw 
from  their  rage. 

Germanicus,  when  the  accounts  of  this  alarming  transac- 
tion were  brought  to  him,  was  occupied  in  the  afi'airs  of  the 
province,  and  in  administering  the  oaths  of  allegiance  on 
the  accession  of  Tiberius.  Sensible  that  his  own  high  pre- 
tensions exposed  him  to  be  suspected  of  having  encouraged 
these  disorders,  he  repaired  without  delay  to  the  camp, 
from  which  Cecina  had  been  obliged  to  fly,  and  harangued 
the  troops  on  the  unreasonableness  and  impropriety  of 
their  late  proceedings.  They  called  for  the  legacy,  which 
they  heard  was  bequeathed  to  them  by  Augustus:  they 
also  invited  the  prince  to  declare  himself  sovereign  of  the 
empire,  and  offered  to  support  his  pretensions  with  their 
swords.  On  this  proposal,  Germanicus,  as  if  seized  with 
horror,  came  do\vn  from  the  platform  on  which  he  stood, 
and  retired  to  deliberate  on  the  present  alarming  state  ol 
affairs. 

It  was  suggested,  by  some  of  the  officers,  that  by  a  little 
artifice,  without  committing  the  authority  of  the  emperor, 
the  demands  of  the  army  might  be  satisfied.  For  this  pur- 
pose, it  was  proposed  that  a  letter  should  be  feigned,  a9 
from  Tiberius,  so  dated,  that  in  writing  it  he  could  not 
t>e  supposed  to  know  of  the  disorder  which  now  took  place ; 
th'at  in  this  letter  he  should  be  personated,  as  declaring,  by 
a  voluntary  act  of  goodness,  his  intention  to  double  the 
egacy  bequeathed  by  Augustus  ;  to  fix  the  entire  period  of 
Bervice  at  twenty  years,  and  that  of  the  ordinary  duties  at 
sixteen. 

A  letter  to  this  purpose  being  accordingly  produced,  the 
artifice  was  suspected1,  but  the  terms  were  agreed  to,  pro- 


:w.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  551 

nded  that  the  legacies  were  instantly  paid  ;  that  those  who 
«ad  served  twenty  years  should  be  discharged,  and  thosf 
*'ho  had  served  sixteen  years  should  be  exempted  as 
veterans  from  the  ordinary  duties  of  the  camp.  Many  were 
accordingly  discharged,  and  the  more  clamorous  were  paid 
up  their  share  of  the  legacy,  with  such  money  as  could  be 
collected  among  the  attendants  of  the  prince.  Others  were 
persuaded  to  suffer  a  delay  of  payment,  until  they  should 
come  into  quarters  for  the.  winter. 

From  tins  station,  Germanicus  repaired  to  that  of  the 
Upper  Rhine,  where  with  less  trouble,  and  by  means  of  the 
tame  gratuities,  he  prevailed  on  the  legions  of  that  division 
to  withdraw  into  quarters.  A  mutiny  of  the  troops  on  the 
Weser  had  broke  out  at  the  same  time  ;  but  was  suppressed 
by  the  courage  and  ability  of  the  officer  at  their  head. 

It  appears,  that  Tiberius,  on  hearing  of  these  mutinies  on 
the  Rhine  and  the  Weser,  had  recourse  to  the  senate,  and 
wished  to  avail  himself  of  their  authority  in  restoring  the 
discipline  of  the  army.  He  probably  meant,  in  the  name  of 
this  body,  to  inflict  the  necessary  severities,  while  he  re- 
served to  himself  the  more  popular  office  of  granting  indul- 
gences, or  of  making  some  gracious  concessions. 

A  committee  of  the  senate,  of  whom  one  Munatius 
Plancus  is  mentioned  as.  the  head,  was  accordingly  sent  to 
the  quarters  of  the  army,  and  arrived  at  the  Ara  Ubio- 
ruin,*  where  Germanicus,  with  two  legions,  after  quieting1 
the  late  mutiny,  was  retired  for  the  winter.  As  soon  as  it 
was  known,  the  deputies  were  arrived  from  the  senate,  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  state  of  the  army,  the  soldiers  appre- 
hended that  the  late  agreement  was  to  be  set  aside ;  that 
the  indulgencies  granted  to  them  were  to  be  recalled,  and 
that  something  ungracious  was  intended,  which  the  em- 
peror chose  to  execute  in  some  other  name  than  his  own ; 
for  so  the  arts,  by  which  the  empire  had  been  governed  near 
fifty  years,  now  began  to  be  understood.  In  this  persua- 
sion, the  soldiers,  in  a  riotous  manner,  assembled  round  tbe 
quarters  of  their  general;  and  as  a  signal,  that  they  were 
not  any  longer  to  respect  his  authority,  they  tore  the  im- 
perial standard  from  thence ;  and  to  deter  civil  officers,  for 
the  future,  from  interposing  in  their  affairs,  meant  to  have 
murdered  Munatius  Plancus,  and  the  other  deputies  of  the 
senate.  These  officers,  however,  took  refuge  at  the  colours 
of  one  of  the  legions,  where  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
Roman  army,  they  had  the  protection  of  a  sanctuary,  and 
by  this  means  escaped  the  fate  that  u  as  intended  for  them. 

»  In  the  Bishopric  of  Cologne 


552  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Germanicus  being  still  accompanied  in  lus  quarters  by  his 
wife  Agrippina  and  her  infant  son,  the  youngest  of  hia 
children,  and  apprehending  that  they  could  not  be  safe  in 
this  place  of  disorder,  determined  to  remove  them  to  some 
other  station,  where  the  troops,  remaining  in  their  duty, 
were  likely  to  afford  them  protection.  At  their  departure, 
the  soldiers  seeing  the  wife  and  the  infant  child  of  their 
favourite  leader,  followed  by  a  numerous  train  of  female 
attendants,  fly  from  their  camp,  as  from  a  place  in  which  no 
respect  was  to  be  paid  to  sex,  age,  or  rank,  were  struck 
with  the  effect  of  their  own  violence.  Some  crowded  in 
the  way  of  this  melancholy  train,  and  endeavoured  to  de- 
tain them ;  while  others  ran  to  the  husband,  and  beseeched 
him  to  spare  the  legions  so  cruel  a  reproach,  as  was  im- 
plied in  his  supposing  that  the  wife  of  Germanicus,  the 
daughter  of  Agrippa,  and  the  grand- daughter  of  Cesar, 
with  her  inf;mt  child,  were  obliged  to  fly  for  safety  from 
their  quarters. 

The  prince,  observing  the  disposition  of  the  soldiers, 
seized  the  opportunity  of  regaining  his  authority :  and  mak- 
ing it  a  condition  that  they  would  return  to  their  duty, 
complied  with  their  request. 

In  the  first  moment  of  zeal  to  signalize  their  affection, 
multitudes,  without  knowing  the  cause  of  the  change,  passed 
with  the  impetuosity  of  popular  tumults,  by  a  rapid  tran- 
sition, from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  called  out  for  jus- 
tice on  those  who  had  been  leaders  in  the  late  mutiny ;  and 
themselves  became  willing  instruments  in  punishing  such 
as  were  pointed  out  to  them  as  authors  of  a  guilt,  in  which 
the  whole  had  been  concerned.  Germanicus  and  the  prin- 
cipal officers  withdrew  from  the  scene,  leaving  a  centurion 
on  the  platform  to  preside  in  this  extraordinary  course  of 
justice.  The  prisoners  that  were  brought  to  him,  were 
hoisted  up  into  view,  and  upon  the  verdict  of  the  multi- 
tude, to  spare  or  punish  them,  were  released,  or  thrown 
down  from  the  platform,  and  suffered  immediate  death  from 
the  hands  of  their  fellow  soldiers. 

The  same  disorders  had  broken  out,  and  still  subsisted  at 
Vetera,*  the  station  of  the  fifth  and  twenty-first  legion ;  but 
Germanicus  being  now  in  condition  to  enforce  lus  authority, 
advanced  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  sent  his  instruc- 
tions to  Cecina,  who  was  present  with  the  mutinous  troops, 
requiring  that  they  should,  of  their  own  accord,  bring  the 
guilty  to  justice  ;  which  was  accordingly  done. 
These  were  the  principal  difficulties  which  Tiberius  en- 

*  Nearly  opposite  to  Cleves. 


Ca.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  653 

countered  in  effecting  his  succession  ;  he  had  other  alarms 
in  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  but  of  inferior  moment. 
Such  were  the  troubles  occasioned  by  the  imposture  of  Cle- 
mens, who  had  been  a  slave  in  the  service  of  the  posthu- 
mous Agrippa,  and  the  conspiracy  of  Scribonius  Libo,  who, 
being1  encouraged  by  his  affinity  to  the  highest  names  in  the 
republic,  had  formed  some  risionary  design  on  the  empire. 
Clemens,  upon  the  death  of  the  late  emperor,  had  gone  to 
the  place  at  which  his  master  was  detained  in  exile,  meant 
to  have  conducted  him  to  one  of  the  armies  in  Gaul,  where 
he  made  no  doubt  that  the  son  of  Agrippa,  and  the  lineal 
descendant  of  Cesar,  would  hare  found  a  favourable  recep- 
tion ;  but  his  design  being  prevented  by  the  death  of  this 
unfortunate  young  man,  he  formed  a  projpct  still  more  wild 
and  romantic,  founded  in  some  resemblance  which  he  him- 
self bore  to  his  deceased  master,  he  took  his  name,  and  pro- 
posed to  personate  him.  Pretending  to  have  escaped  from 
the  cruelty  of  the  usurper  Tiberius,  he  frequently  changed 
his  place,  and  affected  concealment ;  but  suffered  himself  to  ' 
be  seen  by  those  who  were  likely  to  be  imposed  upon,  and 
to  afford  him  protection  or  support.  He  was  accordingly 
favoured  by  many  persons  of  consequence,  who  were  either 
deceived,  or  willing  to  countenance  any  attempt  that  was 
made  to  disturb  the  present  succession.  Among  his  sup- 
posed abettors,  however,  he  had  unfortunately  one  person 
employed  by  the  emperor  himself,  to  seduce  and  to  circum- 
vent him.  By  this  emissary  affecting  to  believe  his  story, 
and  to  aid  him  in  asserting  his  pretensions  to  the  throne,  he 
was  delivered  over  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  and  was 
put  to  death  by  order  of  Tiberius,  who,  it  is  said,  had  the 
barbarous  curiosity  to  visit  him,  and  to  examine  his  likeness 
to  Agrippa  before  he  was  executed. 

The  emperor  was  soon  after  rather  amused  than  alarmed, 
by  the  informations  he  received  of  the  practices  of  Scribo- 
nius Libo,  his  other  competitor  for  the  throne  of  Cesar. 
This  young  man,  being  by  his  mother,  the  grandson  of 
of  Pompey,  and  by  his  father,  the  nephew  of  Senbonia,  who 
was  the  first  wife  of  Augustus,  was  consequently  the 
cousin  of  Julia,  and  of  her  children.  His  affinity  to  the 
sovereigns  of  the  world  inspired  him  with  thoughts  and 
expectations  above  the  condition  of  a  subject,  and  laid  him 
open  to  the  arts  of  false  and  designing  men,  whom  the 
fashion  of  the  times  encouraged  with  the  prospect  of  impu- 
nity, and  even  of  reward-. 

Such  men  affecting  zeal  for  the  safety  of  the  emperor, 
pnticed  the  unwary  to  engage  themselves  in  some  supposed, 
treasonable  praotica,  in  order  to  have  the  merit  of  inform. 


554  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

ing  against  them.  In  this  odious  character,  a  senator  o, 
the  name  of  Firmius  Catus,  practised  upon  the  weakness  o* 
Libo,  made  him  acquainted  with  professed  magicians, 
astrologers,  and  interpreters  of  dreams,  who  flattered  him 
with  the  hopes  of  empire ;  and  after  he  was  engaged  in 
this  idle  or  criminal  correspondence,  contrived,  by  means 
of  one  Flaccus  Vesculanius,  who  frequented  the  court,  tfl 
give  secret  information  of  the  whole  to  the  emperor. 

Tiberius,  employing  all  his  artifice  against  this  feeble  an- 
tagonist, refused  to  see  the  informer,  but  directed  him  to 
continue  his  intrigue,  and  to  report  the  progress  of  it  by  the 
same  channel.  While  he  concurred  in  laying  this  snare  for 
the  unhappy  young  man,  he  raised  him  to  the  dignity  of 
pretor,  treated  him,  at  the  feasts  and  entertainments  of  the 
palace,  with  uncommon  marks  of  distinction,  and  took  the 
malicious  pleasure  of  observing  how  far  these  flatteries, 
joined  to  the  hopes  of  empire  that  were  given  him,  contri- 
buted to  swell  his  presumption. 

In  the  mean  time,  and  possibly  before  the  design  of  the 
emperor,  and  of  his  informers,  was  ripe  for  execution, 
Fulcinius  Trio,  another  noted  informer,  having  intimation 
of  the  matter  from  one  of  the  astrologers,  who  had  been 
consulted  by  Libo,  proposing  to  snatch  the  prey  from  hia 
original  accuser,  and  to  have  a  preferable  claim  to  the  re- 
ward, carried  his  discovery  directly  before  the  senate; 
but  the  emperor  being  present  when  this  information  was 
delivered,  did  justice  to  the  first  informer,  confirmed  the 
charge,  and  Avith  an  odious  accuracy,  enumerated  the  pite- 
ous follies  of  which  Libo  had  been  guilty.  The  senators, 
pretending  to  be  alarmed  at  such  a  treason,  vied  with  each 
other  in  expressions  of  abhorrence,  and  many  of  them  con- 
tended for  the  honour  of  conducting  the  prosecution  which 
was  to  be  formed  against  the  criminal. 

The  slaves  of  the  accused,  agreeably  to  a  late  innovation 
in  the  law,  were  transferred  in  property  to  the  emperor, 
that  they  might  be  put  to  the  question,  or  that  they  might 
be  received  in  evidence  against  their  master. 

Libo  had  the  first  intimation  of  what  had  passed,  by  a 
party  of  armed  men,  who,  with  orders  to  seize  his  person, 
broke  into  his  house.  Terrified  by  this  appearance,  he 
pleaded  for  mercy ;  or  if  this  could  not  be  obtained,  implored 
that  one  of  his  own  servants  might  be  allowed  to  put  an  end 
to  his  life ;  and  being  disappointed  in  both  those  requests, 
he  took  poison  or  wounded  himself,  and  was  in  the  agonies 
of  death,  when,  according  to  Dion  Cassius,  he  was,  in  order 
to  secure  the  confiscation  of  his  estate,  carried  before  the 
senate  to  receive  his  sentence.  Bv  the  decree  which  waj 


Cn.  V.]  KOMAN  REPUBLIC.  655 

Driven,  the  name  and  family  of  Libo  werr>  consigned  to  in- 
famy, and  the  astrologers,  his  accomplices,  were  expelled 
from  I'aly,  or  put  to  death. 

The  emperor,  when  this  sentence  passed,  .affected  regret 
for  the  unhapp.y  young  man,  complained  of  his  precipitancy 
in  preventing1  the  effects  of  mercy,  and  professed  an  inten- 
tion to  have  spared  his  life. 

From  the  time  at  which  the  mutinies  on  the  Rhine  and 
Danube  were  suppressed,  we  may  date  the  acre.-^ion  of 
Tiberius  to  the  throne  of  Cesar.  He  was  now  in  the  fifty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age ;  is  described  in  his  person  as  tall, 
robust,  and  healthy  ;  erect  in  his  walk  ;  of  a  fair  complex- 
ion, handsome  countenance,  large  eye,  but  frowning  ;  of  few 
words,  and  slow  of  utterance  j  without  any  action  or  ges- 
ture while  he  spoke,  besides  a  kind  of  involuntary  motion 
with  his  lingers.  His  manner,  notwithstanding  his  figure, 
was  so  ungracious,  that  Augustus,  in  recommending  him  to 
public  favour,  thought  proper  to  make  an  apology  for  this 
defect  in  his  appearance ;  observing  that  his  ungracious 
looks  were  mere  accidents  in  the  outward  form  of  his  person, 
not  expressions  of  vice  in  his  temper.  In  lus  youth,  he  was 
addicted  to  debauchery ;  but  as  he  advanced  to  manhood, 
being  in  awe  of  the  emperor,  he  learned  in  many  things  to 
disguise  his  inclinations,  and  acquired  a  habit  of  reserve  and 
hypocrisy. 

Aware  of  the  restraints  hitherto  placed  upon  his  passions, 
the  world  looked  with  anxious  expectation  for  the  full  dis- 
play of  a  character,  hitherto  for  the  most  part  wrapped  up  iu 
reserve,  and  justly  suspected  of  cruelty.  Among  the  first 
discoveries  that  were  made  of  his  temper,  it  appeared  that 
even  his  mother  Livia  had  mistaken  his  disposition,  or 
over-rated  her  own  ascendant  over  him.  In  procuring  the 
empire  to  her  son,  she  had  joined  to  the  zeal  of  a  mother, 
high  degree  of  ambition,  and  a  desire  to  emerge  from  < 
species  of  obscurity,  in  which  she  had  lived  iu  the  reign  oi 
her  husband.  Onthe  accession  of  Tiberius,  she  assumed  all 
the  consequence  she  expected  to  reap  from  lus  greatness, 
an  d  was  flattered  by  the  senate,  but  checked  by  her  son ; 
whereupon  she  entirely  dropped  her  pretensions  to  any 
part  in  the  government,  becoming  no  less  reserved  in  the 
reiiru  of  her  son,  than  she  had  been  in  that  of  her  hus- 
band. As  Augustus,  in  assuming  the  sovereignty,  and 
in  the  whole  of  his  reign  was  kept  iu  awe  by  the  republi- 
can spirit,  which  he  supposed  still  to  lurk  with  a  dangerous 
violence  in  the  minds  of  the  people ;  so  Tiberius,  to  1 1m 
affectation  of  treading  in  the  steps  of  his  predecessor.,  joined 
*  great  measure  of  distrust  iu  tb«  di«*mv».inn8  of  the  peopl* 


536  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VL 

towards  himself,  and  in  their  predilection  for  others,  who 
might  be  supposed  more  worthy  to  reign.  Among  these, 
he  looked  upon  Germanicus  as  the  first  or  principal  object 
of  his  jealousy.  He  had  adopted  this  young  man  merel  y  in 
compliance  with  the  late  emperor's  will,  and  considered  him 
not  only,  as  he  was  become  by  this  act  of  adoption,  a  rival 
to  his  own  son,  but  as  he  was,  by  the  affection  of  the  people, 
by  the  attachment  of  the  army,  and  the  high  pretensions  of 
his  wife  Agrippina,  a  most  dangerous  rival  to  himself.  He 
could  not  forgive  a  person  tc  whom  the  legions  had  made 
offers  of  the  empire ;  and  who,  for  having  declined  the  off i?r, 
was  deemed  the  more  worthy  of  it. 

While  these  feelings  Avere  operating  at  home,  Germanicus 
after  the  suppression  of  the  late  mutinies,  that  he  might  not 
suffer  the  soldiers  time  to  brood  over  their  grievances,  went 
on  an  expedition  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  surprised  a  great  body 
of  barbarians  assembled  to  take  advantage  of  the  disorder 
which  they  supposed  to  subsist  in  the  Roman  army,  dis- 
persed them  with  great  slaughter,  continued  his  march  to 
the  famous'  ground  on  which  Varus  had  been  cut  off  with 
his  legions ;  and  finding  the  field  still  covered  with  the  uri- 
buried  bones  of  the  slain,  had  them  interred.  From  thence 
he  invaded  the  territory  of  Arminius,  and  punished  that  bar- 
barian for  his  treachery  to  those  unfortunate  legions.  -Upon 
his  return  from  this  expedition,  and  while  he  was  meditat- 
ing a  renewal  of  such  operations  on  the  following  year, 
Germanicus  had  intimation  of  the  emperor's  intention  to 
remove  him  from  his  station  on  the  Rhine,  accompanied 
with  a  message  full  of  the  most  flattering  commendation  of 
his  services. 

An  invitation  to  court,  though  veiled  under  many  flatter- 
ing pretences,  was  sufficiently  understood  to  be  a  peremptory 
command,  which  Germanicus  accordingly  obeyed.  On  his 
arrival  in  Italy,  only  two  cohorts  or  battalions  were  sent 
from  Rome  to  receive  him.  But  every  circumstance  tended 
to  augment  the  jealousy  of  the  emperor  ;  the  greater  part 
of  the  pretorian  bands,  mingled  with  multitudes  ot  the 
people  of  every  sex,  condition,  and  age,  advanced  of  their 
own  accord  some  miles  from  the  city,  and  received  him  with 
uncommon  acclamations  of  joy.  Having  made  his  entry,  as 
had  been  proposed,  in  triumph,  he  was,  with,  the  emperor 
himself,  put  in  nomination  for  the  consulate  of  the  follow- 
ing year. 

The  popularity  of  which  Germanicus  now  appeared  to  be 
possessed  in  the  city,  was  no  less  mortifying  to  the  emperor 
than  his  power  in  the  array  of  Gaul  was  supposed  to  be 
dangerous.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  was  vested  witb 


CH.  V.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  557 

a  commission  to  restore  the  tranquillity  of  Asia,  that  was 
disturbed  by  some  disputes  which  had  arisen  on  the  suc- 
cession to  the  kingdoms  of  Cappadocia  and  Armenia. 

Germanicus,  in  the  end  of  the  third  year  of  the  present 
reign,  set  out  upon  this  commission.  Having  a  supreme 
authority  in  the  several  provinces  through  which  he  w;is 
to  pass,  from  the  sea  of  Ionia  to  the  extremities  of  Egypt 
iind  of  Syria,  he  visited,  as  chief  in  command,  the  cities  of 
Greece,  still  revered  as  the  principal  seminaries  of  philosophy 
uud  literature ;  and  upon  his  entry  into  Asia,  proceeded 
to  execute  the  commission  on  which  he  was  sent  He  re- 
duced Cappadocia  and  Commagene  to  the  form  of  Roman 
provinces,  and  settled  Zeno,  son  to  the  king  of  Pontus,  on 
the  throne  of  Armenia.  On  his  return  he  was  taken  ill, 
and  died  at  Antioch  in  the  thirty- fourth  year  of  his  age, 
with  some  suspicions  of  having  been  poisoned  by  Cn.  Piso, 
the  prefect  of  Syria,  not  without  the  connivance  or  the 
direction  of  Tiberius  himself. 

Piso,  hearing  of  the  death  of  Gerraanicus,  while  he  was 
yet  on  the  coast  of  Asia,  betrayed  his  animosity  to  the  dead 
by  public  and  indecent  demonstrations  of  joy.  He  after- 
wards attempted,  by  force,  to  reinstate  himself  in  the  pro- 
vince  of  Syria,  from  which  he  had  been  ordered  by  Ger- 
manicus to  depart ;  but  was  repulsed  by  Sentius,  who  had 
been  chosen  by  the  officers  of  the  prince's  train  to  keep  the 
possession  of  the  province  till  the  pleasure  of  the  emperor 
should  be  known. 

Agrippina,  arriving  soon  after  at  Brundusium  with  the 
ashes  of  her  deceased  husband,  was,  by  order  of  the  em- 
peror, received  by  a  great  military  escort  and  the  honour* 
of  war.  She  passed  in  a  kind  of  funeral  procession  through 
multitudes  that  were  collected  from  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try to  gaze  upon  her ;  and  coining  to  Rome  sufficiently  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  her  husband  had  been  poisoned, 
railed  for  revenge  on  the  supposed  authors  of  his  death. 
Numbers  contended  for  the  honour  of  carrying  her  com- 
plaints before  the  tribunals  of  justice,  and  of  being  the  ac- 
cusers of  her  husband's  murderers. 

A  prosecution  soon  after  commenced  against  Piso  in 
which  all  that  was  known  to  be  exceptionable  in  the  pre- 
ceding life  and  behaviour  of  the  accused,  was  stated  against 
him  by  Fulcidius  Trio,  the  person  already  notorious  SH 
having  exercised  the  trade  of  informer  in  the  case  of  Li  bo. 
The  conduct  of  the  accusation  of  poisoning,  and  the  other 
crimes  imputed  to  Piso  in  his  late  command,  was  committed 
to  Vitellius  and  Veranus,  persons,  peculiarly  attached  to 
Gormanlcus.  The  trial  having  began  before  the  ompertur 


558  HISTORY  OF  THE 

nimself,  was  afterwards  transferred  to  the  senate.  Two 
days  were  allowed  to  the  accusers  to  establish  their 
charge,  and  three  to  the  accused  to  make  his  defence.  The 
prosecutors  brought  sufficient  evidence  of  Piso's  arrogance 
and  extortion  ;  of  much  undutiful  behaviour  to  Germanicus 
himself  in  Asia;  of  disobeying  his  orders;  of  having  made 
war  beyond  the  limits  of  his  province,  but  no  sufficient 
evidence  of  his  having  made  any  attempts  by  poison  on  the 
life  of  the  prince.  The  charge  indeed,  as  stated,  or  laid, 
was  extremely  incredible,  that  Piso  should,  at  the  table  of 
Germanicus,  and  in  the  midst  of  servants,  attendants,  and 
friends,  venture  to  mix  poison  in  a  dish  from  which  num- 
bers were  to  eat.  To  render  this  imputation  still  moro 
improbable,  it  was  observed,  that  the  dead  body  had  been 
exposed  to  public  view  in  the  market-place  at  Antioch 
and  that  no  external  marks  or  indications  of  poison  werr 
found. 

Tne  principal  evidence  that  was  produced  of  any  criminal 
practice  against  the  prince's  life  consisted  of  a  collection  of 
human  bones,  some  verses,  pieces  of  lead  marked  with  the 
name  of  Germanicus,  and  other  supposed  charms,  which 
were  found  in  his  quarters,  and  which  were  considered  as 
implements  of  sorcery,  employed  against  the  life  of  the 
person  whose  name  was  inscribed,  and  against  whom  they 
were  supposed  to  take  effect  if  the  poison  should  fail. 

The  charge  of  murder,  therefore,  supported  by  such  evi- 
dence, will  appear  to  the  modern  reader  entirely  ground- 
less, and  must  have  been  rejected  even  by  the  tribunal  to 
which  it  was  referred ;  but  the  accused  seeing  that  the 
torrent  ran  high  against  him,  and  probably  to  prevent  the 
consequences  of  a  formal  sentence  in  the  confiscation  of  his 
family  estate,  cut  short  the  proceedings  by  a  voluntary 
death ;  or,  as  was  supposed  by  many,  was  secretly  put  to 
death  by  an  order  from  the  court,  lest  his  public  confession 
should  appear  to  involve  the  emperor  himself  in  the  guilt. 

On  either  supposition,  the  death  of  Piso  being  considerrd 
as  an  act  of  self-condemnation,  or  as  a,  precaution  in  Tibe- 
r'us  to  prevent  a  discovery,  confirmed  the  people  in  their 
euspicion,  that  they  were  jointly  concerned  in  the  mnrdaf 
of  the  favourite  prince. 


Ca.  VI.J  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  559 


CHAP.  VI. 

Review  o/theflrtt  I'criod  in  the  Reign  of  Tiberiut  —Application*  of  Pennl 
Law  —  Disposition  of  Tiberius  to  a  recluse  Lije  —Place  and  character  «y 
Sejama  —Death  of  Dnisus,  Son  of  the  Emperor  — lleiiremcnt  of  Ti- 
berius to  the  Island  of  Caprece — Jealousy  oj  the  Emperor  against  Ax  ?  »'//- 
pina  and  her  children — Death  of  Liiia  Augusta— Design  formed  a^nin\i 
Sejanus  —His  Death  -  Prosecution  of  his  supposed  Accomplices  Atti- 
flees  —  Old  Age  -  and  Death  of  Tiberius. 

THE  death  of  Germanicus  is  considered  by  some  hi-tori;un 
as  a  remarkable  epoch  in  the  present  reign.  Before  this 
event.  Tiberius,  as  if  conscious  that  he  held  the  empire  by 
his  good  behaviour,  was  popular  in  his  manners,  and  guard  - 
ed  in  his  administration  ;  declined  the  extravagant  honours 
which  were  ottered  to  him ;  was  easy  of  access ;  affected  to 
live  like  a  private  citizen;  returned  visits,  and  accepted 
invitations  to  entertainments  and  feasts;  visited  the  sick, 
attended  funerals,  and  delivered  orations  in  praise  of 
the  dead.  He  treated  the  titular  magistrates  of  Rome  with 
the  same  ceremonious  respect  that  used  to  be  observed  in 
times  of  the  republic;  rose,  and  stood,  in  the  presence  ot 
the  consul ;  took  his  place  in  the  senate  as  a  private  mem- 
ber ;  was  frequently  seen  in  the  courts  of  justice  as  an  as- 
eessor,  as  an  advocate,  as  an  evidence,  or  as  a  spectator.  To 
a  person  who  saluted  him  with  the  title  of  master,  '•  Insult 
me  not,"  he  said,  "  with  that  odious  appellation.  I  am  the 
master  of  my  slaves,  general  of  the  army,  and  no  monv 
than  prince,  or  first  in  the  rolls  of  the  senate  and  people." 
He  took  the  title  of  Augustus  only  in  his  correspondence 
with  foreign  powers.  In  all  his  addresses,  whether  to  par- 
ticular members  of  the  senate,  or  to  this  body  at  large,  he 
was  in  the  highest  degree  respectful  and  courteous.  When 
engaged  in  debate,  he  endeavoured  to  qualify  contradiction 
or  difference  of  opinion  with  respect  and  regret.  To  ;i 
senator,  named  Haterius,  on  some  such  occasion,  he  said, 
"  I  hope  you  will  forgive  me,  if,  in  my  duty  as  a  senator,  I 
differ  from  you  somewhat  too  freely."  At  a  meeting  of  the 
senate,  in  referring  some  matter  to  their  decision,  he  con- 
cluded with  these  words  :  "  I  have  formerly  said,  and  now 
say,  that  it  becomes  the  person  you  have  intrusted  with  so 
large  a  share  of  the  public  affairs,  to  consider  himself  as  the 
servant  of  this  assembly,  as  the  servant  of  the  people,  and 
of  every  individual;  nor  do  I  repent  me  of  this  saying;  for 
/  have  found  you,  and  still  find  you  candid,  indulgent,  and 
kind  masters."  He  affected  *  contir.Udvi  deference  to  th««r 


660  HISTORY    OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Judgment  on  every  subject,  whether  of  policy,  revenue,  or 
foreign  correspondence;  even  seemed  to  wait  for  th*-ir  or- 
ders in  what  concerned  the  command  of  the  army,  and 
pretended  to  be  displeased,  when  officers,  employed  in  the 
provinces,  made  their  report  directly  to  himself,  without  com- 
municating- the  subject  of  their  despatches  first  to  the  senate. 

With  these  popular  arts,  he  joined  an  administration  in 
many  things  worthy  of  a  wise  and  exemplary  prince,  in- 
dulged the  people  in  the  freedom  of  speech  to  which  t'.-^y 
had  been  accustomed,  saying,  that  "  in  a  free  country,  th? 
rnind  and  the  tongue  should  be  free."  To  those  who  brought 
him  information  of  any  slander  spoken  of  himself,  he  affect- 
ed indifference.  He  gave  a  ready  hearing-  and  redrew  to 
all  the  complaints  that  were  made  to  him  from  the  provin- 
ces, and  carefully  limited  the  exactions  of  h'n  officers  within 
the  bounds  of  established  and  ordinary  fees.  To  persona 
suffering  by  fire,  earthquakes,  or  oth^r  public  calamities,  to 
the  families  of  decayed  senators,  to  the  children  of  those 
who  had  bequeathed  him  their  estates  by  will,  he  was 
munificent  and  liberal ;  took  effectual  measures  to  suppress 
the  banditti,  which  from  the  time  of  the  civil  wars,  still  in- 
fested the  country ;  and  endeavoured  to  diminish  that  con- 
stant source  of  corruption,  the  idleness  which  the  people 
contracted  in  the  too  frequent  repetition  of  shows  and  of 
public  entertainments.  He  gave  an  abatement  of  some 
taxes  which  had  been  imposed  by  the  late  emperor,  and  in 
particular,  mitigated  the  penalties  which  had  been  errone- 
ously inflicted  on  celibacy. 

Tiberius  seemed  to  have  perceived  that  the  severities 
employed  by  his  predecessor,  to  enforce  marriage,  served 
only  to  multiply  the  evils  of  the  times,  without  administer- 
ing any  effectual  remedy  to  that  which  was  complained  of. 
But  what,  in  this  ermrm-ration  of  examples  of  his  political 
conduct,  would  have  done  him  rno-.t  honour,  hud  he  con- 
tinued to  support  it  in  the  subsequent  part  of  his  reign,  was 
the  equanimity  with  which  he  rejected  many  frivolous  ac- 
cusations which  were  brought  against  the  unwary  by  nis 
own  flatterers,  or  by  the  mercenary  informers  who  began 
to  swarm  in  his  time. 

In  respect  to  criminal  prosecutions,  the  change  of  govern- 
ment, which  took  place  at  Korne,  had,  without  altering  the 
legal  forms,  made  a  fatal  change  in  the  effect  of  the  laws. 
The  office  of  an  accuser,  supported  by  a  pure  concern  for 
the  public  safety,  was  commendable ;  but  under  the  present 
government,  when  the  object  of  the  law,  as  well  as  the 
motive  for  the  application  of  it,  were  so  much  changed,  thu 
character  of  a  prosecutor,  though  disguised  under  the  an* 


C*.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  561 

cieht  form*  and  title*,  was,  in  the  highe-t  degree,  vile  and 
detestable.  Under  the  establishment  of  August  us,  the  idea 
of  majesty  was  transferred  from  the  state  itself  to  the  em- 
peror; and  the  principal  object  of  tl\e  l:iw  being  to  guaid 
his  person,  not  only  bis  safety  and  the  authority  of  Jm 
government,  but  his  most  private  concerns,  nude  a  parMli 
the  majesty  which  was  to  be  preserved.  Whatever  implied 
diM-e-pect,  whatever  alarmed  his  jealousy,  or  interfered 
with  his  caprice,  even  intrigues  of  debauch  with  women  of 
his  family,  were  constructed  as  treason.  Under  a  contin- 
uation of  this  government,  the  evil  was  intlamed  by  the 
pretended  real  of  spies  and  informers,  who,  partly  to  piy 
their  court,  and  partly  to  merit  the  rewards  which  were 
promised  from  the  confiscation  of  estates,  endeavoured  to 
keep  on  foot  a  continual  inquisition,  in  which  they  brought 
to  trial  the  most  trivial  indiscretions  as  well  as  more  re.il 
offences,  against  the  person,  authority,  or  dignity  of  the 
prince.  The  swarms  of  such  persons  who  haunted  the  Meps 
of  the  unwary,  and  filled  the  senate  and  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice with  cruel  or  frivolous  prosecutions;  in  which,  by  in- 
teresting the  passions  of  the  emperor,  they  endeavoured  to 
make  him  a  party,  was  one  of  the  most  grievous  circum- 
stances attending  the  late  revolution  of  government. 

Tiberius,  notwithstanding  this  tendency  of  the  establish- 
ment to  which  lie  succeeded,  and  his  own  temper,  which 
•was  sufficiently  prompt  and  sanguinary  in  preventing  at- 
tempts on  his  person,  or  on  his  government,  had  the  honour, 
during  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  in  some  measure,  to 
withstand  this  torrent,  and  to  treat  many  frivolous  accn-a- 
tions  with  a  proper  degree  of  contempt.  A  senator  of  the 
name  of  Falenius,  being  accused  of  having  included,  with 
other  furniture  in  the  sale  of  his  house,  a  Maine  of  Augus- 
tus;  another  of  the  name  of  Hnbrius,  being  accused  of 
having  taken  a  false  oath  by  the  name  of  Augustus;  and 
Granius  Marcellus  being  accused  of  having  taken  the  head 
from  a  statue  of  that  prince,  in  order  to  substitute  ahead 
of  Tiberius  in  place  of  it,  a  manner  of  paying  his  court  rather 
ridiculous  than  criminal;  in  the-e,  and  other  instances  of 
the  same  kind,  Tiberius  either  took  no  part,  or  IM  > 
instructions  to  the  senate  in  very  liberal  and  manly  terms. 
On  the  subject  of  the  prosecution  that  wa*.  rai-ed  againsl 
Falenius,  "  My  father,"  he  said,"  was  deified,  that  his  divin- 
ity might  be  a  safeguard  and  a  protection,  not  a  ^nare  to  Un- 
people. His  image  may,  no  doubt,  be  included,  with  tho>r 
of  the  other  gods,  as  part  in  the  furniture  ol  a  hon^e  tli.it 
is  sold."  With  respect  to  the  supposed  perjury  of  Kubrin^. 
be  observed,  that  '•  if  any  one  swear,  and  ia  perjured,  tl»a 


562  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI- 

mine  is  the  same,  whoever  be  the  god  whose  name  is  pro 
faned.  Augustus  is  no  more  to  be  regarded,  in  this  matter 
than  Jupiter ;  and  either  of  these  gods,  if  offended,  can 
avenge  himself."  The  third  offence,  or  the  shifting  oi 
fleads  from  one  statue  to  another,  being  considered  as  a 
nipkery  of  that  adulation  which  was  so  easily  f/ansferred 
from  one  to  another,  in  the  succession  of  princes,  and  as 
some  degree  of  ridicule  on  the  prince  himself,  was  not  so 
easily  forgiven ;  though,  for  the  present  overlooked,  it  was 
reserved  as  a  subject  of  future  resentment. 

To  whatever  motive  we  ascribe  a  conduct  so  popular,  and 
in  many  particulars  so  worthy  of  empire,  it  is  observed  that 
its  effects  on  the  minds  of  the  people  were  not  such  as  might 
have  been  expected,  and  didi  not  procure  to  the  emperor 
the  favourable  opinion  or  credit  to  which  he  aspired.  His 
manner,  even  when  he  affected  humanity  and  condescension, 
was  ungracious  and  alarming  ;  and,  notwithstanding  any 
appearances  to  the  contrary,  his  real  character  was  sup- 
posed to  be  malicious  and  cruel.  It  is  said,  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  by  which  he  had 
endeavoured  to  disguise  himself  before  his  accession,  he 
made  some  slips  which  betrayed  the  reality  of  this  disposi- 
tion ;  and  that  he  had  been  surprised  into  acts  of  insolence 
and  severity,  in  which,  by  mixing  derision  and  sarcasm 
with  cruelty,  he  had  given  the  strongest  proofs  of  a  merciless 
nature.  For  the  present  it  was  observed,  that  his  overact- 
ing the  part  of  popularity,  the  ridiculous  tyranny  he  exer- 
cised over  the  senate  in  requiring  at  once  the  affectation  of 
freedom  and  the  grossest  servility  ;  that  the  farce  of  affect- 
ing reluctance  in  accepting  of  a  government  which  he  had 
previously  secured  with  the  greatest  care ;  the  ridicule  of 
dividing  in  the  senate,  or  giving  his  vote  with  the  minority, 
when  a  resolution  was  to  be  taken  in  favour  of  himself, 
served  to  join  mockery  and  insult  to  the  weight  of  his 
usurpation ;  that  even  his  affectation  of  popularity,  for  the 
most  part,  increased  the  terrors  of  his  government ;  that  his 
presence  in  the  courts  of  justice  took  away  all  freedom  of 
judgment ;  and  that  the  discretionary  power  which  he 
assumed,  of  mitigating  or  reversing  sentences,  and  of  dis- 
pensing with  laws,  under  pretence  of  correcting  their 
general  tendency  by  seasonable  exceptions,  only  served  to 
frustrate  the  pretensions  to  civil  government,  which,  iu 
imitation  of  Augustus,  he  still  affected  to  preserve. 

But  in  whatever  sense  the  favourable  appearances,  which 
presented  themselves  in  the  beginning  of  this  reign,  wer« 
to  bo  interpreted,  they  were  no  more  than  temporary,  and, 
m  tf*e  manners  of  this  prince,  gave  way  to  the  growing 


CH.  VI.]  ROiMAN  REPUBLIC.  W)b 

asperity  of  age,  or  to  the  presumption  which  took  place  in 
nis  mind,  upon  the  removal  of  a  person  whom  he  considered 
as  a  dangerous  rival,  and  who,  in  case  of  any  public  discon- 
tent, might  have  been  made  the  instrument  of  overturning 
his  government. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Germanicus,  the  temper  of  Tibe- 
rius, which  had  probably  gained  strength  from  restraint, 
broke  forth  in  many  cruel  and  alarming  effects.  His  vigi- 
lance, hitherto  limited  to  one  object,  and  his  jealousy, 
directed  against  a  single  person,  now  found  a  multiplicity 
of  subjects  on  which  to  exert  their  force. 

Among  the  particulars  in  which  the  emperor,  in  the  first 
period  of  his  reign,  imposed  the  greatest  violence  on  his  own 
disposition,  we  may  reckon  the  openness  and  accessibility 
which,  with  a  temper  naturally  dark  and  reserved,  he  affec- 
ted to  maintain  with  the  people ;  and  one  of  the  principal 
circumstances,  probably,  in  which  he  proposed  to  indulge 
himself,  on  his  bi'ing  relieved  from  his  fears  of  Germanicus, 
was  in  retiring  from  the  public  view,  and  in  eluding  the 
observation  of  persons  whom  he  considered  as  spies  on  his 
actions.  In  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  and  in  the  second 
year  after  the  death  of  Germanicus,  having  associated  hia 
son  Drusus  with  himself  in  the  consulate,  and  leaving  him 
in  the  administration  of  affairs  in  the  city,  he  withdrew  for 
some  time  into  Campania,  meditating,  as  Tacitus  observes, 
a  more  entire  and  continued  retreat.  During  the  two  first 
years  after  his  accession  he  had  confined  himself  to  the  walla 
of  Rome,  and  remained  in  the  city,  as  in  the  watch-tower, 
from  whence  he  was  to  observe  and  prevent  all  designs 
that  might  be  formed  on  his  government.  After  those 
years  were  passed,  he  made  some  excursions  to  Antium,* 
and  other  towns  or  villages  on  the  same  coast,  yet  never  to 
any  greater  distance. 

But  while  the  emperor  thus  endeavoured  to  debar  the 
people  from  all  access  to  his  person,  and  to  seclude  himself 
from  public  view,  he  selected,  as  a  proper  instrument  of  his 
power,  and,  in  appearance,  as  an  object  of  his  most  implicit 
confidence,  Elius  Sejanus,  who  has  been  already  mentioned, 
AS  accompanying  his  son  Drusus  on  his  mission  to  the  mu- 
tinous legions  in  Fanonia.  This  person  supposed  to  hav<» 
no  dangerous  pretensions*  or  though  false  to  others,  sup 
posed  true  to  his  master,  he  had  placed  at  the  head  of  his 
guards  or  pretorian  bands,  and  distinguished  him  with  & 
degree  of  affection  and  confidence  hitherto  without  exam 
pie  in  any  former  part  of  his  life. 

•About  thirty  mile*  from  Roue. 


tf64  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Sejauus  is  described  by  Tacitus  as  of  a  hardy  and  indefa- 
tigable constitution  of  body;  of  a  bold  spirit  and  an  insa- 
tiable ambition,  which  he  disguised  under  an  affectation  of 
modesty.  He  is  described  as  a  person  possessed  of  great 
art  in  concealing  his  own  vices,  and  of  an  insidious  pene- 
tration iu  prying  into  those  of  others ;  versatile  in  his  man- 
ners, and  either  careless  and  profuse,  or  vigilant  and  severe, 
as  suited  the  occasion ;  insolent  to  those  over  whom  he  had 
any  advantage,  but  fawning  where  he  was  the  inferior,  or 
had  an  interest  to  gain.  In  his  youth  he  had  attached 
himself  to  Caius  Cesar,  the  adopted  son  of  Augustus ;  and 
afterwards  succeeding  his  own  father,  in  the  station  which 
he  now  occupied  at  the  head  of  the  pretorian  bands,  seemed 
to  improve  the  access  which  this  situation  gave  him  to  the 
person  of  the  emperor,  into  an  ascendant  over  his  mind. 

One  of  the  first  or  most  observable  signs  of  the  great  ele- 
vation of  Sejanus,  was  the  proposed  marriage  of  his  daugh- 
ter with  the  son  of  Claudius,  the  brother  of  Germanicus ;  a 
person,  though  at  this  time  in  a  great  measure  neglected  at 
court,  yet  nearly  related  to  the  emperor ;  and,  in  the  sequel 
of  events,  himself  destined  to  ascend  the  imperial  throne. 
Sejanus  being  thus  pointed  out  as  favourite,  by  a  mark  of 
honour  which  tended  to  gratify  his  vanity,  he  took  mea- 
sures, at  the  same  time,  the  most  efficacious  to  establish  his 
power.  For  this  purpose  he  employed  his  credit  in  filling 
up  with  his  own  creatures,  as  fast  as  vacancies  happened, 
the  pretorian  bands,  the  legions,  and  every  civil  as  well  as 
military  department  in  the  state. 

He  also  changed,  with  the  same  view,  the  manner  of  dis- 
posing of  the  pretorian  bands.  These  troops  were  hitherto 
quartered  on  the  citizens,  or  distributed  in  the  villages 
round  the  walls  of  the  city ;  but  were  now  lodged  together  in 
a  citadel,  and  barracks  erected  for  their  reception.  In  this 
disposition,  whatever  may  have  been  the  object  of  it,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  pretorian  bands  became  more  detached 
from  the  people,  and  that  the  force  and  presumption  of  this 
formidable  body  became  more  tremendous  to  the  other 
parts  of  the  empire,  and  even  to  the  emperor  himself. 

As  Tiberius  seemed  to  set  no  bounds  to  his  confidence 
in  the  minister,  and  enabled  him  to  employ  all  the  powers 
of  the  empire  in  support  of  his  own  elevation,  the  jealousies 
or  resentments  of  the  favourite  became  equally  fatal  with 
those  of  his  master,  and  being  more  numerous,  involved  the 
government  of  the  emperor  in  perpetual  animosities,  pro- 
secutions, and  cruelties,  which  may  have,  for  the  present, 
gratified  his  severe  and  jealous  temper,  but  which  were  it* 
no  wav  conducive  to  his  interest. 


C«,  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  565 

As  Sejanus  was  most  vigilant  and  jealous  in  exacting 
observances,  it  became  more  dangerous  to  neglect  the 
attention  he  required,  than  even  that  which  was  due  to  the 
prince.  A  courtship  was  accordingly  paid  to  him  by  the 
retainers  of  the  palace,  by  the  senate,  by  the  army,  and  by 
the  people,  more  assiduous  than  even  that  which  they  paid 
to  the  emperor.  In  private,  every  species  of  flattery  ;  in 
public,  honorary  decrees  were  invented  to  gratify  his 
vanity.  The  anniversary  of  his  birth  was  joined  to  the 
festivals  of  the  year.  His  name  was  inserted  in  the  public 
prayers  ;  and  when  any  deputation  was  sent  with  addresses 
of  respect  to  the  emperor  from  the  senate,  from  the  eques- 
trian order,  or  from  any  other  public  description  of  men, 
compliments  were  at  the  same  time  sent  to  his  favourite. 
The  effigies  of  both  were  carried  together  among  the  en- 
Bigns  of  the  legions,  and  their  statues  were  grouped  together 
In  the  streets.  Women  of  every  rank  thought  themselves 
honoured  by  the  addresses  of  this  fortunate  man,  and  be- 
came the  tools  of  his  ambition,  or  the  prostitutes  of  his 
pleasure.  By  debauching  the  wife,  he  sometimes  obtained 
intelligence  what  were  the  designs  or  ordinary  pursuits  of 
the  husband  ;  and  by  encouraging  the  zeal  of  spies  and 
informers,  who  were  now  become  the  favourite  retainers 
of  the  court,  he  was  enabled  to  pry  into  the  actions  of  every 
citizen,  and  to  watch  all  the  symptoms  of  disaffection  to  the 
emperor  or  to  himself. 

Sejanus  computed  that  he  himself  was  already  possessed 
of  more  favour  with  the  reigning  emperor,  than  Tiberius 
ever  had  enjoyed  with  the  person  to  whom  he  succeeded ; 
and  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  farther  progress  of  Ms 
fortune  too  arduous  or  difficult  for  him  to  undertake.  The 
conduct  of  the  young  princes  towards  him  had  been  pro- 
voking, and  seemed  to  justify  his  resentment.  They  boro 
with  impatience  the  intrusion  of  u  rival  into  tha  emperor's 
favour.  DrusUs  in  particular  was  frequently  heard  to  com- 
plain, that  his  father  had  chosen  a  favourite  to  supplant  hU 
own  son,  and  had  made  a  stranger  little  less  than  a  colleague 
in  the  empire. 

This  favourite  had  a.ready  formed  an  intrigue  with  Livia, 
or  Livilla,  the  sister  of  Germanicus,  married  to  Drusus. 
By  this  intelligence  with  the  wife,  he  had  notice  of  what 
passed  in  the  conversations  of  the  husband  ;  and  in  concert 
with  this  abandoned  woman,  found  means,  by  the  hands  of 
a  eunuch,  to  administer  poison  to  the  prince,  of  which  lie 
died  The  cause  of  his  death,  and  the  circumstances  of  this 
daring  crime,  were  DOS  known  till  about  eight  vears  after- 

Yy 


566  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.   VI. 

In  the  mean  time  Sejanus,  encouraged  by  the  success  oi 
bis  first  attempt,  flattered  himself  that  he  might  step  into 
the  place  of  the  prince  whom  he  had  thus  removed  out  of 
his  way ;  and,  in  concert  with  Livilla,  with  whom  he  had 
already  Lived  in  habits  of  adultery,  he  waited  for  a  decent 
interval  to  propose  himself  to  the  emperor  as  a  husband 
for  the  widow  of  his  son. 

Tiberius,  although  he  had,  by  his  deceased  son,  a  grand- 
son of  his  own  name  ;  yet  this  young  man  being  still  under 
age,  he  thought  proper,  upon  the  breach  which  had  recently 
been  made  in  his  family,  to  bring  forward  the  two  elder 
eons  of  Germanicus,  Nero  and  Drusus,  whom  he  presented 
to  the  senate,  as  the  great-grand-children  of  Augustus,  and 
the  future  supports  of  the  commonwealth.  Sejanus,  how- 
ever, who  bore  with  great  impatience  the  admission  of  new 
rivals  in  the  way  of  his  ambition,  improved  every  circum- 
stance in  the  manner  which  he  knew  to  be  most  effectual 
to  awaken  the  emperor's  jealousy,  and  to  inflame  the  ani- 
mosity already  subsisting  betwixt  the  empress  Livia  and 
Agrippina,  the  widow  of  Germanicus,  and  mother  of  these 
young  men. 

The  passions  of  jealousy  and  distrust,  by  which  the  mind 
of  Tiberius  was  secretly  devoured,  became  less  disguised 
and  more  violent  in  their  effects  against  those  who  hap- 
pened to  be  the  objects  of  them.  He  listened  without  re- 
serve to  every  spy  or  informer,  and,  under  the  pretence  ot 
treason,  directed  prosecutions  against  every  person  in  any 
degree  exposed  to  suspicion.  Under  such  prosecutions  the 
accused,  having  no  hopes  to  escape  from  a  charge  in  whicb 
the  passions  of  the  sovereign  were  engaged  against  them, 
endeavoured,  for  the  most  part,  to  prevent  by  a  voluntary 
death  the  confiscation  of  their  estates.  And  this  direful 
necessity,  frequently  repeated,  being  imputed  to  the  merci- 
less policy  or  suggestion  of  Sejanus,  greatly  increased  the 
court  which  was  paid  to  him,  and  multiplied  the  professions 
of  public  regard. 

Sejanus,  still  appearing  to  rise  in  the  confidence  of  his 
master,  on  the  ruin  of  every  one  else,  ventured,  according 
to  the  agreement  long  since  made  with  Livilla,  to  propose 
himself  to  the  emperor  as  second  husband  to  the  widow  of 
his  son.  In  answer  to  this  request,  the  emperor  acknow- 
ledged the  merits  of  his  favourite ;  but  did  not  give  him 
any  encouragement  on  the  subject  of  his  request.  Sejanus 
was  alarmed  by  this  refusal,  and  dreaded  a  change  of  his 
master's  'disposition.  He  had  hitherto  excluded  every 
competitor  from  the  emperor's  favour;  but  a  temper  so 
oroue  to  suspicion,  he  knew  could  be  easily  turned  against 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  567 

him,  and  would  receive  encouragement  from  numbers,  as 
soon  as  they  should  see  the  first  signs  of  distrust.  For 
these  reasons,  he  is  said  at  this  time  to  have  formed  tho 
design  of  persuading1  Tiberius  to  remove  from  the  city. 
When  at  a  distance,  he  trusted  that,  by  means  of  the  guards, 
who  were  the  bearers  of  all  expresses  and  messages,  he 
might  he  master  of  the  emperor's  correspondence,  and  pre- 
vent the  access  of  every  suspicious  person. 

Whatever  effect  we  may  suppose  the  representations  of 
Sejanus  to  have  had  in  persuading  the  emperor  to  retire 
from  Home,  it  is  probable  that,  in  forming  this  resolution, 
still  more  was  owing  to  his  own  temper.  Though  deeply 
tinctured  with  pride,  the  inherent  vice  of  his  family,  Tiber- 
ius had  not  any  share  of  that  vanity  which  leads  men  to 
display  their  fortunes  and  persons  in  the  view  of  the  world. 
Content  with  the  gratification  of  his  appetites,  and  joining 
hypocrisy  with  the  worst  species  of  sensuality,  he  could 
submit  to  obscurity  ;  and,  although  the  resources  of  soli- 
tude were  now  diminished  by  the  effects  of  age,  yet  a  tern, 
per  become  more  jealous  of  the  world,  and  more  averse  to 
its  notice,  inclined  him  more  to  withdraw  from  the  city,  and 
to  maintain  from  a  distance  that  watch  which  he  had  hither- 
to kept  over  the  actions,  words,  and  even  thoughts  of  its 
inhabitants.  He  accordingly,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his 
reign,  under  pretence  of  dedicating  in  Campania  a  temple 
V>Jupiter  and  another  to  Augustus,  withdrew  from  Rome, 
and  after  this  time,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  under 
various  pretences,  but  with  continual  intimations  of  his 
intention  to  return,  absented  himself  from  the  city.  Having 
performed  the  ceremonies  for  which  he  had  gone  to  C;im- 
pania,  he  passed  from  thence  to  Capreae,  a  small  island  under 
a  headland,  which  was  called  the  promontory  of  Minerva, 
making  one  side  of  the  bay  of  Naples.  It  is  probable  that, 
after  mature  deliberation,  he  had  fixed  on  this  spot  as  a 
place  of  security  and  an  agreeable  retreat.  It  was  covered 
by  the  high  lands  of  Minerva  from  the  north-east  winds, 
and  was  open  to  breezes  from  the  sea  on  the  south-\\  e~t. 
It  was  accessible  only  to  very  small  vessels,  and  this  only 
at  a  single  place.  The  seas  were  open  to  his  scouts,  and 
no  sail  could  approach  without  ]M§  knowledge  and  permis- 
sion. In  this  secession,  he  dfllded  the  guards,  having 
one  part  in  the  island  for  tli«-  ilt-fcnce  <>t  his  person,  and  the 
other  at  Rome,  to  enforce  the  m. nutates  of  his  government. 

Among  the  Romans  who  were  mlmitted  into  this  retreat 
are  mentioned  Sejanus,  from  whom  the  emperor  was  still 
inseparable,  Curtius  Atticus,a  Roman  knight,  and  Cocceioa 
Nerva,  a  senator  of  great  dignitv. 


508  HISTORY  OF  THK  [B.  VI. 

Tiberius,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  admitted  likewise  in- 
to his  privacy  at  Capreae,  Caius,  the  third  son  of  Germanicus, 
better  known  by  the  name  of  Caligula.  The  society,  how- 
ever, in  which  he  delighted  most,  was  made  up  chiefly  oi 
Greeks,  professed  men  of  letters,  but  more  eminent  as 
flatterers  and  ministers  of  pleasure.  For  such  men  he  had 
no  respect,  but  suffered  them  to  amuse  him  with  their 
speculations,  or  rather  with  a  kind  of  literary  buffoonery, 
in  discussing  ludicrous  questions  which  he  was  pleased  to 
propose ;  such  as,  who  was  the  mother  of  Hecuba,  and  what 
species  of  music  was  sung  by  the  Syrens. 

This  tyrant,  though  now  withdrawn  from  the  resent- 
ment of  those  he  injured,  did  not  suffer  his  vigilant  jealousy 
o  sleep  over  the  rumours  and  reports  of  his  informers  and 
spies,  but  rather,  with  a  more  open  and  unguarded  severity 
watched  over  crimes  which  had  no  existence  but  in  his  own 
imagination.  From  Capreae,  his  mandates,  for  the  most 
part,  were  carried  to  the  senate,  and  to  the  military  officers 
at  Rome,  not  as  complaints  against  the  supposed  offender, 
or  as  instructions  to  the  magistrate  to  make  trial  or  inquiry 
into  the  guilt  of  the  accused,  but  as  warrants  for  their 
immediate  execution. 

Agrippina  and  her  sons,  with  their  adherents,  and  those 
of  Germanicus,  were  principal  objects  of  the  present 
emperor's  animosity  and  cruel  dislike.  This  family  being 
high  in  the  favour  of  the  people,  he  fancied  that  the  young 
men  might  not  be  disposed  to  defer  the  completion  of  their 
hopes  until  a  natural  event  had  bestowed  a  succession,  which 
a  daring  attempt  might  accelerate.  Nero  and  Drusus,  the 
two  elder  sons  of  this  family,  having  without  any  authority 
from  the  emperor,  been  included  by  the  senate  in  the  forms 
of  public  prayer,  their  names  were  again  expunged  by  his 
order,  and  with  an  admonition  to  the  senate,  not  to  inflame 
the  ambition  of  youth  with  premature  and  exorbitant 
honours.  This  forward  attempt  to  place  the  sons  of  Ger- 
manicus on  the  steps  of  the  throne,  was  supposed  to  proceed 
from  the  ambition  of  their  mother  Agrippina,  who  appear- 
ing to  carry  in  her  high  looks  and  vehement  temper  the 
pretensions  of  the  grand -daughter  of  Augustus,  and  the 
mother  of  future  emperors-ever  seemed  to  reproach  Tiber- 
ius with  having  usurped,^jpkl  with  continuing  to  possess, 
what  was  due  to  herself  and  to  her  children.  Sejanus  did 
not  neglect  to  cultivate  the  animosity  of  either  party.  He 
had  informations  conveyed  to  Agrippina,  of  a  design  that 
was  hatching  at  Capreae  against  her  life,  and  excited  her  by 
these  means  to  give  the  emperor  provoking  marks  of  her 
caution  and  distrust,  which  were  easily  interpreted  as  the 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  569 

•ymptorm  of  a  guilty  mind  in  herself,  and  hastened  the  pre- 
Tentions  on  his  part,  which  he  thought  proper  to  employ 
against  her. 

As  mutual  provocations  had  passed  between  Agrippina 
and  the  emperor  before  his  departure  from  Rome,  it  is 
extremely  probable  that  he  had  then  resolved  upon  the  rnin 
of  her  family,  at  least  upon  her  own.  He  proceeded,  how- 
over,  by  degrees,  in  the  execution  of  his  purpose,  and 
before  his  departure  from  Rome,  had  made  a  trial  of  hia 
power  against  gome  of  her  relations  and  friends.  Under 
this  description,  he  had  ordered  the  execution  of  Sosia 
Galla  and  Claudia  Pulchra,  two  women  of  noble  binh, 
who  were  related  to  her  by  blood,  and  much  in  her  con- 
fidence. 

Upon  occasion  of  the  last  of  these  executions,  Agrippina, 
who  considered  herself  as  aimed  at  in  this  cruel  action, 
ventured,  with  a  vehemence  and  impetuosity  which  made 
part  of  her  character,  to  reproach  the  emperor  with  his 
tyranny,  accosting  him  to  this  purpose,  as  he  was  engaged 
in  his  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  Augustus  ;  "  It  ill  becomes 
a  person,"  she  said,  "who  affects  to  worship  the  parent,  to 
practise  the  ruin  of  his  offspring.  The  spirit  of  him  you 
adore,  is  not  transferred  into  the  inanimate  marble  which 
you  worship,  but  into  his  living  posterity  whom  you  oppress, 
and  whom  you  cause  to  live  in  continual  mourning  and 
sorrow." 

While  these  friends  of  Agrippina  thus  suffered  by  the 
cruelty  of  the  emperor,  Titius  Sabinus,  who  had  been  dis- 
tinguished by  his  affection  to  Germanicus,  and  remained 
still  attached  to  his  family,  became  upon  this  account,  an 
object  of  the  same  cruelty,  and  he  was  accused  of  treason  by 
certain  informers.  The  information  was  applauded  by  the 
emperor,  transmitted  to  the  senate,  and  by  them  considered 
as  a  warrant  for  the  immediate  death  of  the  accused.  Being 
found  by  the  officers,  commissioned  to  seize  him,  paying  his 
devotion  at  some  public  altar,  he  was  dragged  from  thence 
to  immediate  execution.  The  particulars  of  the  detection 
were  published,  in  order  to  show  with  what  zeal  the  em- 
peror was  served,  and  in  order  to  restrain  the  disaffected, 
by  a  mutual  distrust  of  each  other,  from  entering  into  any 
•uch  dangerous  counsels. 

Tiberius,  upon  receiving  the  report  of  Sabinus's  exenj- 
tion,  thanked  the  senate  for  tlie  justice  they  had  done  on 
this  enemy  of  the  commonwealth,  and  mentioned  a  danger 
to  which  his  person  was  still  exposed  from  other  enemies. 
rtbre  formidable  than  those  they  had  already  destroyed. 
Soou  afterwards  the  storm  u  likli  had  IM.VIJ  lonjf  impending 


570  HISTORY  OF  THB  [B.  VI. 

•TCT  them  accordingly  broke  out.  A  letter  from  the  em- 
peror was  presented  to  the  senate,  charging  Nero  the  eld- 
est son  of  Agrippina,  with  lewdness,  and  Agrippina  hersett 
with  haughty  looks,  and  a  stubborn  heart. 

This  letter  was  received  in  the  senate  with  surprise. 
After  some  integral  of  consternation  and  silence,  a  motion 
was  made  to  proceed  in  the  matter  to  which  it  referred  ;  but 
there  being  no  specific  charge,  and  no  instructions  to  form 
a  prosecution,  it  was  observed,  that  the  emperor  might  have 
given  way  to  his  displeasure  in  angry  expressions,  without 
intending  any  farther  censureor  judicial  severities.  Juniu* 
Rustious,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Tiberius  clerk  or 
secretary  of  the  senate,  ventured  to  advise  a  delay,  in  order 
that  the  emperor  might  have  time  to  reconsider  the  subject* 
and  to  make  the  senate  acquainted  with  his  real  intentions 
In  the  mean  time,  the  purport  of  this  letter  was  rumoured 
abroad,  and  the  senate  was  beset  with  multitudes  of  the 
people,  who,  carrying  the  effigies  of  Agrippina  and  her  son, 
exclaimed  that  the  letter  inquestion  must  have  been  forged, 
that  it  was  impossible  the  emperor  could  intend  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  own  family  ;  and  after  the  senate  broke  up,  there 
continued  to  be  handed  about  in  the  streets  invectives 
against  Sejanus,  alleged  to  be  the  speeches  of  members  in 
in  that  assembly. 

Tiberius  renewed  his  complaint  to  the  senate,  reprimand- 
ing them  for  not  having  proceeded  on  bis  former  letter ;  but 
insinuated,  that  he  did  not  aim  at  the  life  of  Agrippina,  n»r 
at  that  of  her  son.  In  this,  he  seemed  to  requirea  sentence 
ef  exile  or  imprisonment ;  and  the  members  resolved  that 
Agrippina,  with  the  eldest  of  her  sons,  should  be  banished  ; 
the  first  into  the  island  of  Pandateria,  the  place  where  her 
mother,  the  unhappy  Julia,  had  been  confined  ;  and  the  other 
to  Pontia,  another  island  ou  the  same  coast.  The  younger 
brothers  were  overlooked  on  the  present  occasion.  Con- 
tinuing, however,  with  respect  to  those  who  incurred  his 
aversion  or  his  distrust,  to  exercise  a  cruelty  which  eeeraed 
to  increase  with  age,  or  with  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
demerit  towards  mankind,  the  emperor  proceeded  against 
Asinius  Gallus,  a  distinguished  statesman,  who  had  married 
Yipsania,  after  her  divorce.  Measure*  were  taken  to 
prolong  the  sufferings  of  this  favourite  victim.  To  wit- 
ness their  effects,  and  to  enforce  the  impression  of  them 
with  peculiar  marks  of  deliberate  malignity,  insult,  and 
mockery,  was  the  intention  of  the  Emperor  in  the  present 
instance.  For  this  purpose,  he  procured  a  deputation  from 
the  senate  to  be  sent  to  Capreae,  and  took  care  that  Aeinius 
Qallos  should  be  one  of  the  deouties,  Uoou  their  arrival*  L.Q 


c«.  vi.  j  M'UJiui;.  671 

-•I    (tallUM  ill  II    iM.nm.-i     ,,,-,  ,,!i:.,ly    KI.-II-MHI-,  ii.JiniMr.  | 

'    ,    III    illl    III-    '•,.  ,  •'.,,,  :il  y 

.  roiu 
(•l.tiiit,  <il  tr»-.i   •  tli.il    a 

Hi  I  ruMi  the  ftttimte  NUould  bo  Milt  > 

I..-    .  ••iiitiiiui-  1  .'  li.n  i'.  in  ,    ;ni'l    <!••!.  MI,  •••!     him    ;il. 

Capr«u>,   uutlur   varioiu   pretence*  of  kni-im---.  until    »/.-• 
u  arrant  of  DM  1  a/nv".      II 

«ar«'lo  In-  pntiiMit.  whfii  tint  warrant  wu«  I'xci-ut  i-«i,  itl|«M-t«-l 


r<     ••    •    . 

VI'.  I'-  •!•   '•       I,.,  Ill   J    I,.-    liMi-M-'|    |,,     Ililll 

J.jrii,   ti-ril  I..-  I  n-liii  n  »«,    I 

III  tlf  »  •iinlii;Mj.,ij.  injun,  rl<-iuii<"l  lo  :i 

HngVpillK    MtHtu    Of  •Utp6OM«  WJ'l  vitlioiil    Ilii- 

i-il^oof  III*  criiiK-,  r>r  of   tli<-  \>ft  -.011  l<y  vvlioin    I 

.•      ',1    n-!ni«'IIHMlt.  Oil   rin.-lly    \vliH  ll     1  . 

.n  con«i<l<*rK<l  an  th«  .-mtlior  .,f  n 
thug  "  "x'y  li"*  K1'"1 

ll;ill<TV  :i^  w. 

wa»t<  '  \  ;i»  already  doomed 

to    •!<•   Inn  ti-m         'J  i!,'-lMi    ,  ••  DM-; 

H  j'l«-nl    to    unli;ij)|»y   irn-n,   r/ 

i     to   hi-,   o'.vn    );<•»  -on,  Ironi  Hi'-    lici/M,    aii'l    fio/ri    tin- 
to  wliirli  Ji«-    li.-t-I    j.i 

|  h<-   j.-vo!v«-<l 
•ln-'l  tho  <l:in 

wi.i-  h  IK-  i.-iij/lit    be  «xj>OM»d  in  th«ex. 
•ionu«-.i  the  n  'i.ii  r,  nri'i  in  :iii  i, 

.-.I,  i.h   lt(«    HM 
dmiKfifd  him,  "  My  8ejanu»,  and  the  partner 

uii'l  niy  l;il>oii«.H 

Jlith-rto,  jt  i,  probable  that  Tito-riui.  w-ll  uvvur- 
vigilance  and  pern-  ''  mini. 

crou»  spleit  be  had  employed,  lut-i 

pentni.  ri  t'>  pro'  (•«•'!  any  I 

de*i^«  ..';•-.  <•  i."  1.  1  )  <  !>"  <-n  in'ii  i'.  i  i. 

colleague  in  the  contulate  of  the  entulof  year  ,  an>l,  ini<i>-r 
.'•«  of  delega' 

.vhicii  the  emperor  hinuelf  'oui'i  not  ati<-ii>t,  ! 
i  i  ••  had  accepted  • 

:    H-,   tin;  roil" 
Being  to  destroy  him,  it  wa*  nocoieary  that  §ome  one 

•iioul'J  Ixj  prifn-nt  on  \\  IJOMI  thu  d  -.1  'If- 


f72  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

Tolve.  For  this  reason,  he  divested  himself  of  the  office, 
and  substituted  in  his  own  place  C.  Memmius  Regulus, 
who,  on  the  first  of  May,  was  admitted  as  the  colleague  of 
Sejanus.  From  thenceforward,  the  conduct  of  the  em- 
peror threw  the  favourite  himself  and  the  public  in  general 
into  great  perplexity.  In  some  of  his  letters  to  the  senate, 
he  spoke  of  his  health  as  declining,  and  of  himself  as  a  dying 
person.  In  his  next  he  announced  his  recovery,  and  n 
design  of  speedily  visiting  the  metropolis.  He  commended 
Sejanus  in  one  letter,  he  censured  him  in  another  ;  some- 
times favoured  none  but  his  partisans  and  adherents,  at 
other  times  affected  to  prefer  his  rivals. 

While  Sejanus  appeared,  from  some  circumstances  in  the 
conduct  of  the  emperor  towards  him,  to  be  out  of  favour, 
he  was  suddenly  raised  to  the  dignity  of  pontiff,  together 
with  Caius  Cesar  Caligula ;  and  to  try  the  effect  of  a  fresh 
mortification  on  the  temper  of  his  devoted  favourite,  Cali- 
gula was  declared  successor  in  the  empire.  The  popular- 
ity of  the  family  of  Germanicus,  made  this  declaration  be 
received  with  universal  joy ;  and  being  joined  to  other 
indications,  that  Sejanus  no  longer  had  the  exclusive  pos- 
session of  the  emperor's  favour,  greatly  diminished  the  court 
that  was  paid  to  him. 

From  this  time,  it  is  probable  that  Tiberius  took  into  hia 
confidence  Macro,  an  officer  already  of  high  rank  in  the 
pretorian  bands,  and  whom  he  destined  to  succeed  Sejanus 
in  the  command  of  that  body.  With  Macro,  he  concerted 
the  manner  of  removing  this  dangerous  man,  and  formed  a 
plan,  which  was  to  be  intrusted  to  his  execution.  Sejanua 
was  to  be  flattered  with  new  hopes  ;  he  was  to  be  surprised 
in  the  senate,  while  the  guards  were  to  be  amused  with, 
what  was  a  new  circumstance  in  this  reign,  the  distribution 
of  a  donative  from  the  emperor. 

In  proceeding  to  execute  this  design,  Macro  was  des- 
patched to  Rome,  and  took  care  to  arrive  at  an  hour,  when 
the  senate  had  been,  by  order  of  the  emperor,  appointed  to 
assemble.  He  met  with  Sejanus.  just  as  he  had  posted  hit 
guard,  and  was  entering- at  the  door  of  the  senate- house ; 
and  being  asked  what  commands  he  had  from  the  emperor, 
and  what  letters  f6r  himself?  answered,  that  he  had  brought 
his  appointment  to  the  tribunitian  power,  and  was  to  lay  it 
before  the  senate.  Sejanus  took  his  place,  with  the  usual 
attendance  of  persons  who  had  accompanied  him  from  his 
own  house,  and  had  the  members  of  the  senate  still  crowd- 
ing around  him  us  usual,  when  Macro  presented  the 
mandate  of  the  emperof»  and  retired. 

This  paper  was  artfully  drawn  up,  to  gain  time  in  tht 


Ca.  VI.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  573 

reading,  till  Macro  should  secure  the  guards ;  and  con- 
cluded with  a  peremptory  charge  of  treason  against  Sejantu. 
Macro,  as  soon  as  he  had  delivered  the  emperor's  letter  to 
be  read  in  the  senate,  went  to  the  guard  which  was  posted 
at  the  doors,  informed  them  that  he  brought  a  donative 
from  the  emperor,  which  they  were  then  to  share  with 
their  fellow  soldiers  in  the  barracks  ;  that  for  this  purpose, 
they  were  immediately  to  be  relieved  by  a  party  of  the 
city  watch.  This  being  done,  he  led  them  to  the  citadel,  or 
what  was  called  the  camp  of  the  pretorian  bands,  distributed 
the  emperor's  bounty,  and  at  the  same  time  taxed  their 
commander  with  ingratitude  to  so  kind  a  master ;  intimated 
his  removal,  produced  his  own  commission  to  succeed  in 
that  important  station,  and  by  his  authority,  as  well  as  by 
these  precautions,  prevented  any  disturbance  among  that 
formidable  body  of  men. 

Sejanus  xvas  taken  into  custody  of  the  party  which  had 
relieved  his  own  guard,  and  treated  as  a  person  accused  of 
the  highest  crimes.  On  the  first  motion  for  a  commitment, 
he  was  ordered  to  prison,  and  persons  of  every  description 
began  to  give  unfeigned  or  affected  demonstrations  of  joy. 
The  populace,  as  he  passed  through  the  streets,  took  their 
part  as  usual  in  the  storm  which  burst  on  this  unfortunate 
man,  and,  that  he  might  not  have  the  consolation  of  passing 
unseen,  tore  away  the  lappet  of  his  gown,  with  which  he 
endeavoured  to  cover  his  face. 

On  the  same  day,  the  senate  met  again  in  a  temple  contig- 
uous to  the  prison  in  which  Sejanua  was  confined,  and, 
without  any  specific  charge  or  evidence  of  guilt,  gave 
sentence  of  death  against  him,  which  was  accordingly  ex- 
ecuted. The  dead  body,  as  usual  in  the  case  of  treason, 
being  made  fast  on  a  hook,  was  dragged  through  the  streets, 
and  cast  into  the  river,  where  it  was  thrown  up,  or  con- 
tinued afloat  during  some  days,  under  the  continual  insults 
of  a  multitude  of  people. 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  how  far  this  minister  was  ac- 
countable for  a  tyranny,  which  occasioned  so  vehement  and 
so  general  a  resentment  His  crimes  were  undoubtedly 
great,  and  the  envy  of  his  fortune  was  not  to  be  assuaged  by 
common  sufferings.  But  as  human  nature  is  liable  to  ern-r 
in  the  manner  of  punishing  crimes,  as  well  as  in  the  com- 
mission of  them,  the  rag<>  which  now  animated  the  populace 
against  Sejanus,  mixed  with  a  servile  intention  to  pay  their 
court  to  the  emperor,  led  to  an  action  as  criminal  and  more 
odious  than  any  of  which  h<»  himself  hud  been  accused  or 
inspected.  The  children  of  this  unhappy  man,  a  boy  and  a 
girl,  though  too  young  to  partake  in  hi*  guilt,  or  to  furnish 


574  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

any  subject  of  distrust  or  of  jealousy  to  his  enemies,  were 
included  in  the  same  fate  with  the  father :  the  girl  with  so 
much  innocence,  that  she  often  asked  the  persons  by  whom 
she  was  seized,  what  she  had  done. 

Apicata,  the  widow  of  Sejanus,  and  the  mother  of  these 
unhappy  children,  having1  first  disclosed  the  conspiracy,  by 
which  Drusus,  the  son  of  Tiberius,  had  been  poisoned,  laid 
violent  hands  on  herself,  and,  by  the  discovery  she  made, 
soon  after  brought  on  the  ruin  of  the  widow  Livilla,  witi 
that  of  the  other  accomplices  in  that  daring  crime. 

After  the  execution  of  Sejanus,  the  city  continued  in  a 
ferment  during  many  days.  The  people  having  been  dis- 
posed, for  some  time,  to  impute  to  the  minister  the  system 
of  tyranny  which  had  been  lately  pursued,  rejoiced  in  his 
fall,  applauded  the  severities  which  were  executed  on  the 
partners  of  his  guilt,  and  willingly  pointed  out,  as  accom* 
plices  in  his  crimes,  his  relations  and  friends,  and  all  who 
had  ever  moved  for  any  of  the  extravagant  honours  that 
were  lately  bestowed  upon  himself.  Persons  of  every  sex 
end  of  every  condition,  were  cast  indiscriminately  into  the 
same  prisons ;  and  the  time  of  the  senate  was  divided 
between  the  ordering  of  executions,  and  the  appointment 
of  honours,  which  were  decreed  to  the  prince  for  his  vigi- 
lance in  this  matter.  The  title  of  father  of  his  country  was 
again  offered  to  him;  additional  rejoicings  were  devised  for 
the  anniversary  of  his  birth :  a  general  thanksgiving  was 
appointed  to  the  gods  ;  and  a  new  statue  was  to  be  erected 
to  Liberty. 

These  decrees,  Tiberius,  so  far  as  they  were  intended  to 
confer  honours  on  himself,  rejected  with  disdain,  and  even 
refused  to  see  the  deputies  who  were  separately  sent  from 
the  senate,  from  the  equestrian  order,  and  from  the  people, 
to  congratulate  hitn  on  this  occasion.  He  despised  the 
givers  too  much  to  be  nattered  with  the  gift,  and  was  aware 
of  their  duplicity  in  pretending  to  offer  him  praise.  Under 
this  impression,  at  one  of  the  last  times  he  had  attended  the 
senate  in  person,  he  was  observed  to  leave  the  assembly 
with  scorn.  "  What  a  collection,"  he  said,  "  of  willing 
slaves  !"  There  is,  it  seems,  a  degree  of  good  nature  aa 
well  as  of  weakness,  in  wishing  to  be  flattered.  This  prince 
was  equally  exempted  from  both. 

Agrippina,  with  two  of  her  sons,  Nero  and  Drusus,  had, 
during  the  administration  of  Sejanus,  being  taken  into 
custody,  or  banished  to  some  of  the  islands  contiguous  to 
the  coast  of  Italy  ;  but  all  of  them  perished  after  the  death 
of  Sejanus,  either  by  the  executioner,  or  by  their  own 
hands,  urged  to  despair  by  the  indignities  they  were  mado 


CH.  VI.]  ROMAN  KliPUBLIC.  575 

to  sutler.  The  mother  perished  in  one  or  other  of  these 
ways  in  the  island  Pandateria,  the  place  of  her  exile ;  and 
the  eldest  of  her  two  sons  was  starved  to  death  in  one  «z* 
the  small  islands  called  Pontiae,  to  which  he  was  confined. 
The  second  son  perished  in  the  same  manner,  some  time 
afterwards,  in  a  prison  to  which  he  had  been  committed  in 
the  palace.  A  third  son  of  Germanicus  and  Agrippina, 
Caius,  better  known  by  the  name  of  Caligula,  yet  remained 
to  convince  the  Roman  people,  that  the  fond  expectations 
which  are  formed  of  princes  who  die  prematurely,  are  not 
aUvays  well  founded.  This  young  man,  whether  recom- 
mended to  Tiberius  by  an  early  sympathy  of  their  character?, 
or  merely  overlooked  by  him  on  account  of  his  youth,  not 
only  escaped  the  persecutions  in  which  his  fam'.ly  was 
involved,  but  was  at  last  embraced  by  the  emperor  as  a 
support  to  his  age ;  and,  making  a  part  of  his  court  at  Caprere 
next  to  Macro,  enjoyed  the  second  place  in  his  favour. 

The  emperor  had  a  grandson  by  birth  of  the  name  of 
Tiberius ;  but  Caius,  who  was  his  grandson  by  adoption, 
being  elder,  was  pointed  out  by  this  circumstance  of 
seniority,  and  by  the  favour  which  the  people  still  bore  to 
the  family  of  Gerraanicus,  as  heir  apparent  to  the  empire. 

Caius  was  encouraged  by  the  grandfather  to  whom  false- 
hood appeared  to  be  a  necessary  ingredient  in  every  trans  • 
action,  to  expect  the  succession,  while  it  was  really  intended 
for  Tiberius.  The  first,  though  not  qualified  by  address  to 
extricate  himself  from  any  difficulties,  acted,  perhaps  from 
mere  insensibility  or  fear,  the  part  which  was  fittest  in  hi» 
place,  and  which  continued  to  render  him  sutlerable  at  tl>* 
court  of  Tiberius.  He  acquiesced  in  the  fate  of  his  mother 
and  of  his  brothers,  without  uttering  a  single  word  of  im- 
patience or  regret,  regulate!  his  o\vn  behaviour  by  tha 
emperor's  looks ;  and  whether  his  countenance  were  gloomy 
or  gay,-  formed  his  own  upon  the  same  model,  carrying, 
under  the  aspect  of  extreme  servility,  while  a  subject,  that 
detestable  profligacy  which  rendered  him  afterwards  so 
cruel  a  tyrant,  and  which  gave  occasion  to  the  famous  say- 
ing, "  That  his  accession  to  the  empire  spoilt  a  good  slave  to 
make  a  detestable  master." 

The  accounts  which  are  given  of  the  latter  part  of  tho 
rei<^n  of  Tiberius,  have  more  the  appearance  of  invective 
than  of  history.  Kven  this  hateful  monster,  it  is  said,  was 
addicted  to  pleasure  ;  but  of  so  vile  n  kind,  as  to  excite  de 
testation  and  loathing,  more  than  to  increase  the  indign*. 
tion  which  is  felt  at  his  cruelties  and  other  crimes.  His 
procurers  had  authority  to  employ  seduction,  money,  and 
force  ;  and  in  th«ir  endeavours  to  suoolv  liis  caprice,  spared 


576  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI, 

neither  condition  nor  sex.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive,  that  a 
world,  enlightened  by  the  reason  and  experience  of  so  many 
ages  ;  that  citizens,  acquainted  with  the  character  and  the 
rights  transmitted  to  them  from  their  ancestors ;  that 
military  men,  yet  rivalling  the  reputation  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  and  having  no  interest  in  the  horrid  use  that  was 
made  in  the  capital  of  the  imperial  and  military  power 
which  they  themselves  bestowed  and  supported ;  should 
submit  to  be  commanded  for  so  many  years  by  a  super- 
annuated monster,  retired  from  the  world,  and  supposed  to 
practise  every  species  of  private  abomination,  as  well  as  of 
public  oppression. 

In  accounting  for  the  patience  of  the  Romans  under  this 
odious  reign,  we  may  observe,  that,  in  the  sense  of  a  peoplf 
who  still  retained  the  ferocity  of  their  ancestors,  though 
possessed  of  few  of  their  good  qualities,  the  cruelties  which 
are  mentioned  had  less  effect  than  they  have  on  our  feel- 
ings. They  were  practised  chiefly  against  persons,  who, 
being  of  the  emperor's  family,  or  raised  by  himself  to  be 
objects  of  general  envy,  were  easily  abandoned  l»_,  the  public 
to  his  will. 

After  such  an  account  of  the  character  of  this  emperor,  it 
is  painful,  in  accounting  for  the  success  of  his  government, 
to  acknowledge  that  he  was  a  man  of  considerable  ability ; 
and  that,  while  he  indulged  his  passions  in  the  capital,  or 
at  his  own  court,  yet  in  the  provinces,  where  the  con- 
sequences of  an  error  might  have  been  fatal  or  dangerous 
to  his  power,  he  held  the  reins  with  a  steady  hand. 

The  emperor  being  now  sensible  of  his  decline  and  ap- 
proaching1 dissolution,  undertook  several  journeys  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  capital,  to  keep  the  citizens  in  awe, 
and  to  check  the  hopes  they  were  apt  to  entertain  of  an  ap- 
proaching deliverance  from  his  tyranny.  He  now  failed 
rapidly,  and  took  a  voyage  to  the  head-land  of  Misenum, 
where  he  possessed  a  villa  which  had  formerly  belonged  to 
Lucullus.  At  this  place,  wishing  to  conceal  the  real  state 
of  his  health,  he  took  his  place,  as  usual,  at  table,  affected  to 
prolong  the  entertainment,  and  addressed  himself,  at  part- 
ing, with  some  particular  words  of  attention  to  every  guest : 
but  after  an  effort  of  this  sort,  being  retired  to  his  apart- 
ment, he  fainted  away,  and  lay  on  his  bed  for  dead.  The 
report  immediately  ran  from  one  end  of  the  villa  to  the 
other.  All  the  officers  of  the  guards  in  attendence,  and  all 
the  members  and  followers  of  the  court,  repaired  to  Caius 
with  congratulations  on  his  supposed  accession  to  the  em- 
pire. But  while  they  were  thus  employed  in  paying  their 
addresses  to  the  successor  a  servant  arrived,  and,  in  great 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  5// 

consternation,  announced  that  the  emperor  was  revived, 
and  called  for  assistance.  The  company,  in  a  moment,  was 
dispersed ;  and  Caius,  with  extreme  terror,  saw  the  ruin 
which  threatened  him  for  his  premature  acceptance  of  the 
court  that  was  paid  to  him.  But  Macro  retained  his  pre- 
sence of  mind,  and  put  a  sudden  stop  to  the  feeble  ettbrts  of 
returning  life  in  Tiberius,  by  gathering-  up  the  coverlet  of 
his  bed,  so  as  to  stop  his  breath  until  he  was  suffocated. 


CHAP.   VII. 

Succtuion  of  Caiiu  to  the  Empire—  The  flrtt  Appearance*  of  hit  Reign— 
Conclusion  of  the  Hntory — Obteroationt  on  the  Sequel— Accertion  of 
the  Flavian  Family—  Vicistitudet  of  Character  in  the  Emperori  -  Source* 
of  Degradation  in  the  Imperial  Establithment  -  lit  Preiervatirei  - 
lt»  real  and  continual,  though  almoit  intentible,  Decline. 

TIBERIUS  died  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  in 
the  twenty-third  year  of  his  reign.  By  this  event  the 
imperial  throne,  for  the  first  time  since  it*  establishment, 
became  actually  vacant.  Tiberius  would  have  associated 
his  successor  in  the  government,  if  his  grandson  by  birth, 
for  whom  he  intended  the  empire,  had  been  of  a  proper  age 
to  assume  the  government ;  but  this  young  man  was  no 
more  than  seventeen  years  of  age,  while  Caius,  the  grandson 
by  adoption,  was  already  five-and- twenty,  had  the  better 
pretension,  and  was  supported  by  the  favour  of  the  Roman 
people. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  dying  emperor  thought  it 
dangerous  to  declare  for  his  grandson ;  but  secretly  drew 
up  a  will  in  his  favour,  of  which  he  carefully  lodged  many 
copies,  while  he  made  the  world  believe,  that  he  intended 
the  succession  for  Caius.  In  this  act  of  duplicity  he  had 
concealed  his  real  intentions,  even  from  Macro,  the  com- 
mander of  the  pretorian  bands,  on  whom  the  execution  of 
his  purpose  chiefly  depended  ;  and  by  these  means  rendered 
it  entirely  abortive. 

Macro,  having  been  for  some  time  past  in  actual  concer' 
with  Caius  on  the  measures  that  were  necessary  to  secur 
the  succession  ;  and  both  being  equally  surprised  to  find,  at 
the  demise  of  Tiberius,  a  formal  conveyance  of  the  sover- 
eignty in  a  different  channel,  llirir  first  intention  was  to 
cancel  this  deed  ;  but  they  soon  found  that  the  testator  had 
made  so  raanv  roo'es  of  his  will,  ;unl  lodged  them  so  secure- 


578  HISTORY  O*  THE  [B.  Vi 

ly,  as  to  render  their  design  impracticable.  It  was  deter- 
mined, therefore,  as  more  advisable,  to  refer  the  matter  to 
the  senate,  and  to  obtain  an  act,  founded  on  a  supposed 
right  of  seniority,  preferring  Caius  to  the  throne  of  Cesar. 

By  such  an  acknowledgment  of  right,  the  monarchy 
gained  a  new  advantage,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  greatest 
of  which  it  was  then  susceptible,  that  some  rule  of  inheri- 
tance should  be  followed  to  prevent  the  ruinous  contests 
which  arise  from  an  elective  or  disputed  succession,  and 
to  give,  if  possible,  together  with  a  permanent  right  of 
the  sovereign,  to  his  high  estate,  a  corresponding  right  of 
every  citizen  to  his  rank,  to  his  privilege,  and  to  his  pro- 
perty. 

By  this  declaration  in  favour  of  Caius,  it  seemed  to  be 
admitted,  that  men  were  to  look  for  a  successor  to  the 
empire  in  the  person  who  stood  foremost,  either  by  birth 
or  adoption,  in  the  family  of  Cesar  j  and  the  establishment 
of  the  monarchy  appeared  to  be  complete.  The  titles  of 
emperor  and  prince,  or  head  of  the  army  and  of  the  senate, 
under  which  Augustus  endeavoured  to  conceal  the  extent 
of  his  usurpation,  came,  in  the  course  of  his  own  and  the 
succeeding  reign,  to  signify  what,  among  the  designations 
of  sovereignty  and  imperial  power,  they  now  actually  im- 
port. 

Notwithstanding  the  acknowledgment  now  made  in 
favour  of  hereditary  right,  the  example  of  a  formal  resig- 
nation and  resumption  of  the  sovereignty,  set  by  Augustus, 
and  repeated  by  Tiberius,  had  entailed  a  kind  of  farce  on 
the  empire,  to  be  acted,  not  only  at  the  accession  of  suc- 
cessive masters,  but  in  the  same  reign,  at  every  period 
ten  years. 

Caius,  therefore,  while  he  was  far  from  admitting  any 
doubt  of  his  right  to  the  sovereignty,  nevertheless,  mim- 
icked the  caution  or  artifice  with  which  Augustus  and 
Tiberius  proceeded  to  assume  the  reigns  of  government. 
He  repeated  the  same  professions  of  respect  and  of  aeal  for 
the  commonwealth,  the  same  expressions  of  personal 
modesty,  the  same  unwillingness  to  undertake  the  govern- 
ment, the  same  reluctant  compliance  with  the  pressing 
requests  of  the  senate  and  people,  the  same  affectation  of 
filial  piety  to  his  predecessor,  and  of  indulgence  or  candour 
to  those  who  had,  in  any  way,  obstructed  his  own  advance- 
ment. It  was  become  the  fashion  to  affect  destroying  all 
papers  and  records,  from  which  any  one  could  fear  to  hat* 
matter  of  accusation  brought  against  him  :  but  it  was  be- 
come the  practice  to  preserve  them  with  great  care. 

While  the  new  emperor  passed  from  Misenum  to  Rome, 


CH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  579 

he  was  attended  on  the  highways  by  incredible  numbers  of 
people,  who,  animated  by  the  affection  which  they  bore  to 
his  father  Germanicns,  and  by  the  hopes  of  exchanging1  a 
cruel  and  jealous  tyrant  for  a  youth  of  a  noble  and  virtuous 
extraction,  received  him  with  acclamations  of  joy,  calling 
him  their  propitious  star,  the  child  and  the  nursling  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  bestowing  upon  him  every  other  ap- 
pellation of  fondness  and  respect.  Affecting  to  follow  the 
impulse  of  his  own  filial  piety,  and  to  be  moved  by  the 
affectionate  sympathy  of  the  Roman  people,  he  hastened  to 
the  island  of  Pandateria,  where  his  mother  Agrippinsi  had 
suffered  so  long  a  confinement  under  the  tyranny  of  Tiber- 
ius, raked  up  the  ashes  of  her  funeral  pile,  embraced  her 
remains^  and  ordered  them  to  be  carried  with  great  osten- 
tation to  Rome.  Although  decency  required  him  to  observe 
the  forms,  and  to  carry  the  aspect  of  mourning  for  his  late 
adoptive  father  and  predecessor,  he  complied  with  what  he 
knew  to  be  the  wishes  of  the  Roman  people,  affecting  to 
reverse  many  orders  that  were  established  in  the  adminis- 
tration and  policy  of  the  preceding  reign. 

Here  then,  if  not  before,  we  may  date  the  final  and  irre- 
trievable extinction  of  the  Roman  republic,  not  only  in  the 
subversion  of  its  own  institutions,  and  in  the  actual  sub- 
stitution of  different  forms,  but  in  the  acknowledgment  of 
a  right  which  made  the  succession  to  imperial  power  here- 
ditary, as  well  as  the  extent  of  it  far  beyond  what  was 
consistent  with  the  prerogatives  formerly  enjoyed  by  the 
senate  and  people  of  Rome.  At  this  termination,  therefore, 
of  the  Roman  republic,  agreeably  to  the  design  of  this  his- 
tory, the  narration  must  cease  or  conclude,  with  a  very 
general  view  of  what  befell  the  empire  in  the  succession  of 
masters,  and  in  the  result  of  its  o\vn  greatness. 

Notwithstanding  the  favourable  appearances  which  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  accession  of  Caius,  he  not  having, 
either  in  his  understanding  or  dispositions,  the  permanent 
foundation  of  any  good  character,  his  personal  vices  soon 
broke  out  in  one  of  the  most  brutal  and  sanguinary  tyran- 
nies of  which  there  is  any  example  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind. Having  no  choice  of  amusement  above  that  of  the 
lowest  people,  he  soon  plunged,  together  with  them,  into 
every  species  of  dissipation  and  debauchery ;  remained 
whole  days  and  nights  in  the  theatres  and  in  the  circus, 
entertained  with  the  fights  of  gladiators,  the  baiting  of  wild 
beasts,  and  all  the  other  species  of  shows,  of  which  the 
Romans,  once  a  warlike  people,  now  a  corrupted  populace, 
were  so  immoderately  fond.  In  the  degree  of  extravagance 
to  whii-h  he  car^orl  this  matter,  he  incurred. an  immoderate 


560  HISTOitx   Of  '1HK  [B.  VI. 

expense  ;  and,  besides  applying  to  this  purpose  the  ordinary 
revenue  of  the  empire,  squandered,  within  the  year,  a 
saving  of  about  two-and-twenty  millions  sterling,  left  in 
the  treasury  by  his  predecessor. 

In  the  sequel  of  these  vile  misapplications  of  time,  the 
satiety  he  experienced  led  him  to  indulge  himself  in  the 
most  scandalous  and  offensive  debauch.  A  sense  of  the 
public  hatred  and  c-'mtempt  which  he  incurred,  galled  him 
with  jealousy  and  disgust ;  and  these  passions  soon  ripened 
into  a  geneial  enmity  to  mankind.  Every  species  of 
brutal  indulgence,  qualified  with  the  name  of  pleasure; 
deliberate  murders,  under  the  pretence  of  the  execution 
of  justice,  ordered  without  any  formalities  of  trial,  per- 
petrated in  his  own  presence,  and  attended  with  expres- 
sions of  insult  and  scorn  from  himself,  make  up  the  sequel 
of  a  reign  which  began  with  some  professions  and  propi- 
tious appearances  of  moderation  and  regard  to  the  opinion 
of  the  world.  But  the  degree  to  which  human  nature 
itself  was  disgraced  and  insulted,  in  these  detestable  abuses 
of  power,  hastened  an  attempt  to  relieve  the  empire  from 
the  dominion  of  this  monster.  He  fell,  hi  about  three  years 
after  he  began  to  reign,  in  one  of  the  passages  of  his  own 
palace,  by  the  hands  of  Chaerea,  an  officer  of  his  guard,  who, 
without  any  intention  to  supplant  or  to  succeed  him  in  the 
empire,  formed  a  conspiracy  against  his  life. 

The  senate,  for  a  few  hours  after  this  event,  flattered 
themselves  in  the  belief  that  the  government  had  devolved 
on  themselves;  and  Chnerea,  by  whose  hands  the  tyrant 
had  fallen,  fondly  wished  for  the  restoration  of  the  republic ; 
but  the  pretorian  bands  thought  themselves  entitled  to  dis- 
pose of  the  empire.  Before  their  officers  had  taken  any 
measures  for  this  purpose,  a  few  straggling  soldiers  pervad- 
ing the  courts  and  recesses  of  the  paface,  seized  upon  Clau- 
dius, the  brother  of  Germanicus,  and  uncle  of  Caligula 
who,  as  a  changeling  devoid  of  ordinary  understanding,  had 
been  long  neglected  or  overlooked  in  the  palace.  This 
being  the  person  who  seemed,  by  his  relation  to  the  late 
emperors,  to  have  the  best  claim  to  tlu  name  and  succession 
of  the  Cesarian  or  Claudian  families,  they  raised  him  on 
their  shoulders,  yet  trembling  with  fear,  lest  he  should  be 
involved  in  the  fate  of  his  kinsman  Caligula,  and  hastening 
with  their  burden  to  the  fortress  or  barrack,  were  received 
by  their  companions  with  shouts  and  acclamations,  which 
announced  to  the  senate  and  the  people  that  a  successor 
was  given  to  the  throne  of  Cesar. 

The  inactivity  of  this  new  sovereign  might  have  furnished 
the  world  with  at  least  an  innocent  master,  if  his  want  of 


Cm.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  581 

capacity  could  have  been  supplied  without  committing'  his 
power  into  hands  equally  disposed  to  abuse  it  with  the 
worst  of  his  predecessors.  Fit  only  to  be  a  pageant  in  the 
ceremonies  of  a  court,  or  a  tool  to  be  employed  by  those 
who  got  possession  of  him,  he  came  at  last  into  the  hands 
of  the  second  Agrippina,  the  daughter  of  (Jermanicus,  and 
sister  of  Caligula,  who,  though  his  niece,  became  his  wife, 
and  prevailed  upon  him  to  adopt  the  young  Domitius  Ahe- 
nobarbus,  her  son  by  a  former  husband ;  and  by  these  means 
made  way  for  his  succession  to  the  empire  under  the  appel- 
lation of  Nero. 

This  impetuous,  severe,  am!  profligate  woman,  equally 
ardent  in  the  acquisition  as  in  the  abuse  of  power,  mistook, 
for  parental  affection,  the  earnest  passion  with  which  she 
wished  to  govern  in  the  name  of  her  son.  Having  ability 
enough,  however,  where  she  was  not  misled  by  her  pas- 
sions, to  distinguish  tho  proper  instruments  of  government, 
she  endeavoured  to  procure  for  him  in  the  tutory  of  Burhus, 
who  was  placed  by  her  means  at  the  head  of  the  pretorian 
bands,  and  of  Seneca,  who  was  by  her  means  likewise  re- 
called from  banishment  to  his  place  in  the  senate,  the  most 
able  or  specious  direction  which  the  times  could  afford. 

Nero  acting  for  some  time  what  Burhus  suggested,  and 
speaking  what  Seneca  dictated,  appeared  to  be  a  prodigy 
of  wisdom  and  ingenuity.  But  his  own  personal  disposi- 
Lion,  making  its  way  in  a  little  time  through  the  mask  of 
sayings  and  of  actions  which  were  not  his  own,  gave  suffi- 
cient evidence,  that  the  circumstance  of  having  been  the 
mere  puppet,  though  actuated  by  the  most  able  and  ingeni- 
ous hands,  does  not  bestow  ingenuity  or  ability,  and  that  a 
direction,  however  wise,  received  from  others  without  dis- 
cernment or  knowledge  of  its  value,  cannot  c;\rry  to  the 
mind  of  those  who  submit  to  it  the  character  of  wisdom. 

The  name  of  Nero,  after  the  person  who  bore  it  had, 
during  a  few  years  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  been  sup 
posed  the  model  of  royal  and  philosophic  virtue,  has  become 
proverbial  for  caprice,  folly,  brutality,  insolence,  and  cru- 
elty. To  the  contempt  of  his  subjects  he  at  last  joined  n 
contempt  of  that  very  dignity  to  which  he  himself  was 
raised  as  sovereign  of  so  great  an  empire.  Having  a  talent 
for  music,  he  became,  or  believed  himself  to  he,  ;i  distin- 
guished performer,  exhibited  his  skill  on  the  public  theatres, 
and  travelled  through  Greece  in  the  character  of  an  artist, 
to  receive  the  applauses  of  a  people  supposed  to  excel  in 
discernment  and  taste. 

The  contempt  which  Nero  incurred  in  quitting  the  char 
\ctcr  of  sovereign  for  that  of  niu-irian.  liecume  morn  faUl 


582  IUSTORV  OF  THE  [B.  VI 

to  him  than  the  general  detestation  which  he  had  formerly 
excited.  A  revolt  which  took  place  at  first  in  Gaul  was 
followed  by  a  defection  of  all  the  armies  of  the  empire,  and 
reduced  him  to  th  •  necessity  of  quitting-,  together  with  his 
life,  a  situation  of  which  he  proved  so  unworthy.  Next  to 
the  fears  which  a  -mailed  him  on  the  prospect  of  death,  he 
was  most  affected,  it  is  said,  with  surprise,  that  the  world 
could  submit  to  lo-e  the  hand  of  so  great  a  performer. 

Such  then,  in  the  first  period  of  this  monarchy,  was  the 
progress  of  a  sovereignty  erected  by  the  Cesars  with  so 
much  violence,  bloodshed,  and  criminal  address.  According1 
to  our  ideas  of  inheritance,  the  succession  did  not  once 
take  place  in  the  family  of  the  first  founder,  but  was  pieced 
out  by  continual  adoptions  from  the  Octavian,  the  Claudian, 
and,  last  of  all,  from  the  Domitian  family. 

The  reign  of  Augustus  has  been  generally  applauded, 
and  may  be  considered  as  a  model  for  those,  who  wish  to 
govern  with  the  least  possible  opposition  or  obstruction  to 
their  power.  It  may  serve  likewise  as  a  caution  to  those, 
who  need  to  be  told  under  what  disguise  the  most  detest- 
able tyranny  will  sometimes  approach  mankind.  The  wary 
design  which  marked  the  character  of  Augustus,  was  fol- 
lowed by  worse  principles  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  suc- 
ceeded him;  arid  the  dominion  he  established,  merely  to 
subject  the  empire  to  his  own  power,  without  any  disposi- 
tion to  abuse  it,  became,  in  the  sequel,  an  instrument  of 
the  vilest  tyranny,  and  brought  upon  the  public  stage  of  the 
world  actors,  whom  their  dispositions  and  characters  must 
otherwise  have  condemned  to  obscurity,  or  exposed  as  a 
disgrace  and  a  blemish  to  human  nature. 

The  manners  of  the  imperial  court,  and  the  conduct  of 
succeeding  emperors,  will  scarcely  gain  credit  with  those 
who  estimate  probabilities  from  the  standard  of  modern 
times.  But  the  Romans  were  capable  of  much  greater  ex- 
tremes than  we  are  acquainted  with.  They  retained, 
through  all  the  steps  of  the  revolution  which  they  had  un- 
dergone, their  ferocity  entire,  without  possessing,  along 
with  it,  any  of  those  better  qualities,  which,  under  the  re- 
public, had  directed  their  courage  to  noble,  at  least  to  great 
and^national,  purposes. 

Augustus  had  established  the  military  government  with 
greatjcaution,  and  even  affected  the  appearances  of  a  citizen, 
while  he  secured  all  the  powers  of  a  master.  His  successors 
retained  in  public  the  same  familiarity  of  manners,  without 
the  same  guard  against  its  abuses,  and  affected  to  be  popu- 
lar in  the  city  and  in  the  camp,  without  the  circumspection 
which  preserved  the  firot  emA>*ror  from  the  contagion  "•* 


CM.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  583 

mean  ami  degrading1  examples.  The  state  itself  was  jusA 
emerged  from  democracy,  in  which  the  pretensions  to 
equality  checked  the  ordinary  XISPS  which,  under  monar- 
chies, are  made  of  fortune  and  superior  condition.  The 
distinctions  of  royalty,  and  with  these  the  proprieties  of 
behaviour,  in  high  rank,  were  unknown.  An  attempt  at  ele- 
gant magnificence  and  courtly  reserve,  which,  in  established 
monarchies,  makes  a  part  of  the  royal  state,  and  a  consider- 
able support  of  its  dignity,  were  avoided  in  this  fallen  re- 
public, as  more  likely  to  excite  envy  and  hatred,  than 
deference  or  respect. 

The  Roman  emperors,  perhaps,  in  point  of  expense,  both 
public  and  private,  exceeded  every  other  sovereign  of  the 
world;  but  their  public  expenses  consisted  in  the  exhibi- 
tion of  shows  and  entertainments,  in  which  they  admitted 
the  meanest  of  the  people  to  partake  with  themselves.  Their 
personal  expenses  consisted  not  so  much  in  the  ostentation 
of  elegance  or  refined  pleasure,  as  in  a  serious  attempt  to 
improve  sensuality  into  a  continual  source  of  enjoyment ; 
and  their  pleasures  consisted,  of  consequence,  in  the  exces- 
ses of  a  brutal  and  retired  debauch.  This  debauch  was 
supported  by  continual  endeavours  to  excite  satiated  appe- 
tite, to  prolong  its  gratifications,  and  to  supply  the  defects 
of  mere  animal  pleasure,  with  conceits  of  fancy  and  efforts 
of  buffoonery  or  low  humour. 

The  manners  of  imperial  Rome  are  thus  described  in  the 
remains  of  a  satire,  as  elegant  in  the  style,  as  it  is  gross  and 
disgusting  in  the  matter,  and  which  we  may  suppose  to  be 
just  in  the  general  representation,  whatever  we  may  think 
of  its  application  to  any  of  the  princes  whose  names  and 
succession  have  been  mentioned. 

Even  in  the  court  of  the  sober  Augustus,  pleasure  was 
but  another  name  for  debauch.  Love  was  no  more  than 
the  ebullition  of  temperament,  without  the  allurements  of 
elegance,  or  the  seduction  of  affection  or  passion.  In  the 
license  of  .the  sexes,  both  of  them  alike  resorted  to  the 
places  of  public  debauch.  Women  of  the  highest  rank  af- 
fected the  manners  of  prostitutes,  and,  to  realize  the  evi- 
dence of  their  victories,  collected  the  ordinary  rewards  of 
prostitution. 

In  this  state  of  manners  the  first  successors  of  Cesar,  not 
having  the  habits  of  a  courtly  decorum  to  preserve  them 
from  the  contagion  of  mean  and  degrading  vices,  and  not 
considering  their  own  elevation  as  any  other  than  a  mere 
post  of  advantage,  from  which  they  could  indulge  every 
caprice  with  impunity,  after  a  few  attempts  in  the  begin- 
ning of  a  reign  to  prejudice  the  world  in  their  favour, 


684  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI. 

plunged  into  every  species  of  excess,  that  a  vile  disposition, 
set  free  from  restraint,  and  exasperated  by  the  sense  ot 
general  aversion,  could  incur. 

A  perfect  freedom  from  all  external  restraint  would  bft 
sufficiently  dangerous  for  persons  of  the  best  dispositions ; 
but  to  those  who  are  cursed  with  the  worst,  such  a  freedom 
from  restraint  would  be  accompanied  witn  certain  ruin.  It 
is  indeed  nowhere  to  be  found ;  but  the  first  successors  of 
Cesar  flattered  themselves  that  they  had  found  it ;  and  a* 
they  supported  the  first  offences  which  they  committei'i 
against  the  rules  of  propriety,  by  setting  reason  itself  and 
the  sense  of  mankind  at  defiance,  they  came  to  apprehend  a 
species  of  pleasure  in  braving  the  detestation  which  they 
incurred  by  their  infamies.  They  pursued  the  first  strokes 
of  injustice  and  malice  by  a  continual  warfare  of  distrust, 
prevention,  and  revenge  against  those  to  whom  they  sup- 
posed that  their  persons  or  government  were  odious ;  and 
they  persisted  in  this  course  until  the  extreme  itself,  being 
:vhat  nothing  less  than  the  possession  of  sovereign  power 
could  support,  appeared  characteristic  of  empire,  and 
worthy  of  the  descendants  of  Cesar. 

During  this  unhappy  succession  of  Cesars,  the  supreme 
power  had  been,  for  the  most  part,  held  or  disposed  of  by 
the  pretorian  bauds.  These  troops  being  posted  in  the  capi- 
tal, overawed  the  senate  and  people,  and  though  not  fit  to 
contend  with  the  legions  who  were  still  employed  in  actual 
service,  they  gave  possession  of  the  empire,  at  every  va- 
cancy, before  the  armies  of  the  frontier  had  time  to  deliber- 
ate or  to  take  part  in  the  choice. 

This  pre-eminence,  however,  of  the  pretorian  bands  had 
been  impatiently  suffered  by  the  legions  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Danube.  They  wished,  at  the  death  of  Augustus,  to 
have  given  a  specimen  of  their  consequence  in  naming  a 
successor  to  the  empire ;  but  being  then  overruled  by  the 
dutiful  spirit  or  moderation  of  Gerinanicus,  they  acquiesced 
in  the  government  of  Tiberius,  and  remained  in  quiet  under 
all  the  successions  which  followed ;  until,  being  excited  by 
the  defection  of  Gaul,  which  happened  under  Nero,  and 
impatient  of  the  mockery  of  sovereignty  exhibited  in  the 
infamies  of  that  unhappy  person,  they  entertained,  almost 
in  every  quarter  of  the  empire  at  once,  the  project  of  giv- 
ing a  better  and  more  respectable  sovereign  to  the  world. 

Within  the  compass  of  one  year  and  a  few  months,  after 
it  was  known  that  the  province  of  Gaul  had  revolted  from 
Nero,  all  the  armies  from  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  from 
(iaul,  Syria,  Spain,  and  Britain,  were  on  their  march  to- 
wards Italy,  for  the  important  puroose  of  giving  a  sovr- 


VH.  VII.]  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  585 

reign  to  the  empire.  And  it  is  remarkable,  that  this  pro- 
ject  did  not  originate  with  the  leaders,  or  appear  to  be 
suggested  by  the  ambition  of  generals,  but  arose  from  a 
spirit  of  commotion  which  pervaded  the  troops. 

Within  the  short  period  we  have  mentioned,  a  motley 
assemblage  of  provincial  troops,  dressed  in  the  garb  of  their 
different  countries,  with  different  arms  and  different 
languages,  mixed  with  the  Roman  legions,  who,  now  for 
many  years  strangers  to  each  other,  met  on  the  Po  and  the 
Tiber  to  dispose  of  the  empire.  And,  in  the  sequel  of  their 
contest,  whether  as  victors  or  vanquished,  whether  mo  vet,' 
by  insolence  or  despair,  did  equal  execution  on  the  paciiic 
inhabitants. 

These  troubles,  however,  ended  in  the  elevation  of  a 
great  and  respectable  officer  to  the  throne  of  Cesar,  and  iu 
the  substitution  of  the  Flavian  family  to  that  of  Claudius 
and  of  Julius.  At  the  accession  of  Vespasian  every  army 
had  tried  its  strength,  and  competitors  from  the  court,  the 
senate,  and  the  camp  had  made  trial  of  their  fortune.  The 
victors  in  this  contest  received  a  willing  submission  from 
the  pacific  inhabitants  of  the  provinces,  who  were  ready 
to  congratulate  themselves  on  the  return  of  public  tran- 
quillity. 

Fortunately  the  first  emperors  of  the  new  family,  Vespa- 
sian himself,  and  the  eldest  of  his  two  sons,  come  from  the 
school  of  experience,  had  learned  the  value  of  reason,  hu- 
manity, and  justice  in  the  government  of  mankind;  and 
they  accordingly  exhibited  a  character  which,  in  some  of  its 
parts,  was  still  new  on  the  throne  of  Cesar :  the  character 
of  wisdom,  propriety,  and  humanity,  assumed,  for  its  own 
sake,  and  without  any  intention  to  circumvent  the  people, 
or  to  impose  upon  the  world.  But  the  fortunes  of  this 
second  imperial  family,  like  those  of  the  first,  soon  devolved 
on  a  person  equally  unfit  to  sustain  them,  and  equally  unfit 
to  be  suffered  by  the  patience  of  an  abject  court  or  a  sub- 
missive world. 

As  mankind  are  known  to  run,  occasionally,  from  one 
extreme  to  another,  the  evils  which  had  been  experienced 
in  the  characters  of  some  of  the  preceding  emperors,  per- 
haps helped  to  direct  the  armies  of  the  empire,  at  times,  to 
think  of  the  opposite  extreme ;  and  they  made  a  compensa- 
tion, in  some  of  their  elections,  for  the  mischiefs  which  they 
had  brought  upon  the  world  in  others. 

Amidst  the  variety  of  examples  that  were  set  on  the  im- 
perial throne,  different  emperors  paid  unequal  degrees  of 
respect  to  the  civil  forms  which  were  handed  down  to  them 
from  the  republic,  and  which  were  still  retained  at  least  iu 


586  HISTORY  OF  THE  [B.  VI, 

name.  But  the  characters  of  sovereign  in  the  empire,  and 
head  of  the  army,  were  necessarily  united  in  the  same  per- 
son ;  and,  in  proportion  as  the  army  itself  came  to  be  cor- 
rupted, the  imperial  establishment  suffered,  not  an  occa- 
sional and  temporary  abuse,  but  a  radical  and  irrecoverable 
decline  of  its  character  and  force. 

The  pretorian  bands  were  early  debauched  by  their  resi- 
dence in  the  capital,  the  principal  seat  of  licentiousness  : 
they  were  inspired  with  presumption  from  the  access 
which  they  had  to  practise  on  the  vices  of  their  sovereign, 
and  they  outran  all  the  armies  of  the  empire  in  profligacy 
insolence,  and  venality. 

The  contagion  of  their  military  arrogance,  however, 
gradually  spread  to  the  legions  of  the  frontier,  and,  to 
gether  with  the  hopes  of  raising  a  favourite  leader  to  thf 
head  of  the  empire,  promised  indulgence  of  crimes  and 
exemption  from  painful  restraints. 

In  proportion  as  the  character  of  Roman  citizen  lost  its 
consideration  and  its  consequence,  the  name  was  easily 
communicated  to  all  the  subjects  ornatives  of  any  province. 
But  this  promiscuous  admission  of  every  subject,  under  the 
same  predicament  of  a  Roman  citizen,  instead  of  raising  the 
provincials  to  the  dignity  of  Romans,  sank  the  latter  to  the 
level  of  provincial  subject ;  extinguished  all  the  sentiments 
on  which  the  legions  of  old  were  wont  to  value  themselves, 
and,  with  their  loss  of  self- estimation  as  Romans,  probably 
diminished  the  interest  they  had  in  the  preservation  of  the 
Roman  name. 

From  such  a  general  tendency  to  corruption,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  an  empire,  though  once  of  such  mighty 
power,  should,  in  process  of  time,  verge  to  its  ruin ;  it  is 
rather  surprising,  that  a  fabric,  mouldering  so  fast  within, 
should  have  so  long  withstood  the  storm  with  which  it  was 
naturally  assailed  from  abroad.  From  the  accession  of  Ca- 
ligula to  the  admission  of  Alaric  into  Rome,  was  a  period  of 
no  more  than  about  four  hundred  years ;  but  from  the  same 
epoch  to  the  reduction  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks, 
was  a  period  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixteen 
years.  So  long  was  it  before  the  lights  of  civil,  political, 
and  military  wisdom,  erected  by  the  Roman  commonwealth, 
though  struck  out  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals  in  the  west, 
and  continually  sinking  in  the  east,  were  entirely  extin- 
guished. 

The  fabrie  of  the  empire  had  many  advantages  to  account 
for  so  long  a  duration,  both  in  the  nature  of  its  materials 
and  in  the  disposition  of  its  parts.  The  provinces  were 
Konvenientlv  situated  for  mutual  intercourse  an«L  for  ma- 


CH.  VII. 1  ROMAN  REPUBLIC.  587 

lual  support;  and  there  was  an  easy  access  from  the  seat 
of  dominion,  to  the  farthest  bounds  of  the  empire.  The 
order  established  by  Augustus,  and  con  inned  by  Tiberius, 
remained  unaltered,  even  by  many  of  tl:.-ir  successors.  And 
the  authority  of  government  continued  high  in  the  extrem- 
ities of  this  vast  dominion,  while  it  sank  or  was  abused  in 
the  centre. 

Valour  and  discipline,  the  best  preservatives  of  many 
other  valuable  qualities,  being  long  in  request,  though 
sometimes  impaired  in  the  Roman  legions,  still  formed 
examples  of  heroic  virtue,  which  quail lied  some  of  thoso 
who  attained  to  the  more  exalted  st  it  ions  in  the  military 
profession,  to  fill  with  advantage  liie  imperial  throne. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  empire  in  genoial  were  corrected 
of  that  ferocity,  or  reduced  from  that  national  spirit  which 
renders  subjects  refractory.  They  \ve;  ;  addicted  to  pacific 
arts,  tractable,  and  easily  retained  v.  :thin  the  bounds  of 
their  duty  ;  and  they  acquiesced  in  a.;y  government,  how-  • 
ever  negligent  or  incapable. 

It  may  appear  strange,  but  it  is  true,  that  even  under 
the  government  of  mere  soldiers  of  fortune,  the  prin- 
ciples of  law,  founded  in  the  maxims  of  the  republic, 
though  in  some  things  perverted  to  the  purposes  of  despotic 
power,  was  made  the  object  of  a  select  profession,  and  was 
studied  as  a  rule  of  peace  and  of  property.  The  civil  law 
was  thus  not  only  suffered  to  remain  in  force,  but  received, 
from  the  pleadings  of  advocates,  the  decision  of  judges,  and 
the  edicts  of  princes,  continual  accessions  of  light  and 
authority,  which  has  rendered  it  the  great  basis  of  justice 
to  all  the  modern  nations  of  Europe. 

Philosophy  continued  in  repute  from  the  times  of  the 
republic  far  down  in  the  empire,  and  the  doctrines  of  Epi- 
curus, which  had  prevailed  in  the  later  times  of  the  com- 
monwealth, now  gave  way  to  those  of  Zeno  and  the  Stoics. 
While  men  had  rights  to  preserve,  and  hazardous  duties  to 
perform  on  the  public  scene,  they  had  affected  to  believe, 
with  Epicurus,  that  pleasure  was  the  standard  of  good  and 
evil.  But  now,  when  the  public  occupations  of  state  were 
withheld  from  them,  and  vrhen  personal  safety  was  the 
highest  object  in  their  vie\v.  th"V  returned  to  the  idea, 
which  seemed  to  have  inspired  th<>  virtue  of  ancient  times. 
that  men  were  made  happy  by  what  they  themselves  were 
and  performed,  not  by  what  they  po-< 

From  these  materials,  the  law  was  sometimes  furnished 
with  practitioners,  the  senate  with  its  members,  the  army 
with  commanders,  and  the  empire  itself  with  its  head  ;  and 
the  throne  of  Cesar,  in  the  vicissitudes  to  which  it  was  ex- 


•r;S8  HISTORY,  &c.  [B.  VI- 

posed,  presented  examples  as  honourable  to  human  nature 
MI  some  instances,  as  they  were  disgraceful  in  others. 

Tho  wisdom  of  Nerva  gave  rise  to  a  succes?  ion,  which, 
in  the  persons  of  Trajan  and  the  Antoniues,  formed  » 
counterpart  to  the  race  of  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius, 
and  Nero  ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  if  a  people  could 
be  happy  hy  any  other  virtue  than  their  own,  there  was  a 
period  in  the  history  of  this  empire,  during  \vhic.h  the  hap- 
piness of  mankind  may  have  been  supposed  complete.  This 
/LOW ever  is  but  a  fond  and  mistaken  apprehension.  A 
people  may  receive  protection  from  the  justice  and  human- 
ity of  single  men;  but  ran  receive  independence,  vigour* 
and  peace  of  mind  only  from  their  own.  Even  the  virtues 
of  this  happy  succession  could  do  no  more  than  discontinue, 
for  a  while,  the  former  abuses  of  power,  administer  jus- 
tice, restrain  the  guilty,  and  protect  the  innocent.  Many 
of  the  evils  under  which  human  nature  was  labouring,  still 
remained  without  a  cure  ;  and  the  empire,  after  having  in 
the  highest  degree  experienced  the  effects  of  wisdom  and 
goodness,  was  assailed  anew  with  all  the  abuses  of  the 
opposite  extreme.* 

In  this  great  empire,  the  fortunes  of  nations  over  the  more 
^titivated  parts  of  the  earth,  being  embarked  on  a  single 
bottom,  wore  exposed  to  one  common  and  general  wreck. 
Human  nature  languished  for  some  time  under  a  suspen- 
sion of  national  exertions,  and  the  monuments  of  former 
times  were,  at  last,  overwhelmed  by  one  general  irruptioi 
of  barbarism,  superstition,  and  ignorance.  The  effects  of 
this  irruption  constitute  a  mighty  chasm  in  the  transition 
from  ancient  to  modern  history,  and  make  it  difficult  to 
state  the  transactions  and  manners  of  the  one,  in  a  way 
to  be  read  and  understood  by  those  whose  habits  and  ideas 
are  taken  entirely  from  the  other. 

*  These  extremes  scarcely  gain  credit  with  the  modern  reader,  as 
they  are  so  much  beyond  what  his  own  experience  or  observation  can 
parallel.  Nero  seems  to  have  been  a  demon,  and  Aurclius  a  divinity; 
ana  these  prodigies,  whether  in  the  extreme  of  good  or  of  evil,  exhi- 
bited, amidst  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  republic,  are  no  longer  to  b» 
found.  Individuals  were  then  formed  on  their  specific  dispositions  to 
w  i M lom  or  folly,  In  later  times,  they  are  more  cast  in  a  general  mould, 
which  gives  a  certain  form  independent  of  the  materials.  Religion, 
fashion,  and  manners  prescribe  more  of  the  actions  of  men,  or  mark  a 
deeper  tract  in  which  men  arc  constrained  to  move. 


INDEX. 


><  A/r,in  If  ••MIC.  fullt  nf.  41. 

.  ru. 

A,l>,,;>-  ,1  nll.,,-1,,  .1   ;n,,|   put   I  .  .1,    :M,  ),Y  Jtljnir,  . 

ni>WMtai  by  patrlrliui  mill*,  .Ti 

sltinfltul.      Sri-   I'intliiii. 
/fC/nu,  rni|.fr.,n 

•    I.IHnln  ii.loptr.1.  :il. 

tar  of  ociavini,  -i  vi 

.        ----  .    l',.Ml  ..... 

•<  i.    (!i«-    .1  in  -lit.  r     ..f     \      .  .11,    .'.•/). 

Ptrlthi 

/f//-f,l,.,/,-i  .1.  .-..Ml-     t  th-  r,  .  !,.  I  A-  rn   .1.,.,  ,;,.-.,  i  ini.i-i.t  .,1 

rt..i.  M 

.<//.«.  |.ft-.'.M(--  uf  (l,r.   l,v    IMni.ilml.fll. 

of  (Jn'r,-.-  nn  l    IMI-. 

10ft. 
.lnf<"itf   Mnrk,  I*  K«'nt  from  flnn!  ».v   liilnn  f  '  •  vir.  f.i  !(.•• 

•  ,.,,„!(    CirKiir'N    fiir.-i-»   In    lh.lv,    \\T.       |.,ll"'v,    C.v.r   to    Kp.mi   uiul 

tin,  I    iv  !lll     l.llii. 

ll.r  fn 

bfootnm  nrhltrary,  4.1  i.     1  1 

ninl  «li  .  •  r,   i  .,i  -.v  iili  i 

if)  .Irr:i,-v    Mllll     '  ' 
>..,,.    .,11    1,1.     r 

II:.    I.    .11,  II.      .1 

MII  r   . 

nn>l   Hi.-.  «llh   Tl  .....  ., 


Nfc 

Armtnla.     Bfo  Ti^rnnrt. 


590  INDEX. 

Atdrubal.     See  Hasdrubal. 

Asia,  first  expedition  of  the  Romans  into,  99. 

Athens,  siege  and  blockade  of  by  Sylla,  211. 

Augustus,  title  of,  first  bestowed  on  Octavius  Caesar,  &OS, 

Auleles,  Ptolemy,  is  restored  by  Gabinius,  319 

Battot,  socret,  introduction  of,  in  elections,  &e.,  145. 

Bitultu,  elected  consul  along  with  Ctesar.  2S6.     Commands  the  fleet  of 

Pompey,  382.     Dies,  3>4 
THthynia,  bequeathed  to  the  Romans,  239. 

Bacchus,  king  of  Mauritania,  delivers  up  Jugurtha  to  the  Romans,  1F6. 
Britain,  Caesar  invades,  321 . 
Brutus,  Marcus,  forms  a  conspiracy  against  Crrsar,  423.     Prepares  for 

war  with   Octavius,    Antony,   and    Lepidus,   456.      Encamps,   with 

Cassius,  near  Philippi,  operations  and   skirmishes,  death  of  Cassius, 

is  totally  routed,  his  death  and  character,  ^64. 
,  Decimus,  is  vested  by  the  senate  with  the  command  of  all  their 

forces,  451.     Is  put  to  death  by  orders  of  Antony.  457. 

Cersar,  Caius  Julius,  birth  of,  193.  His  first  appearance,  237-  Is 
elected  edile,  267.  Is  appointed  to  the  government  of  Lusitania,  2S3. 
Returns  to  Home,  is  elected  consul,  2e6.  Appointed  proconsul  in 
Gaul  for  five  years,  290.  His  command  in  Gaul  renewed  for  other 
five  years,  315.  Invades  Britain,  second  invasion  of  Britain,  and  re- 
turns to  Gaul,  317.  Endeavours  to  hold  the  consulate  without  re- 
signing his  province,  3'1.  Extends  his  influence  in  Rome,  recalled 
by  the  senate,  and  ordered  to  dismiss  his  army,  resolves  to  march 
towards  Rome,  3.i3.  Visits  Rome,  and  seizes  the  public  treasure, 
371.  Arrives  in  Spain  and  pursues  the  army  of  Pompey,  374-  He 
is  named  dictator  by  the  senate  at  Rome,  37D.  Sails  for  the  coast  of 
Greece,  proposes  peace  to  Pompey,  encamps  near  the  village  of  Phar- 
salus,  gains  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  392.  Arrives  in  Egypt,  and  is 
presented  with  the  head  of  his  rival,  his  passion  for  Cleopatra,  twice 
tlefeats  the  Egyptians,  395.  Arrives  in  Italy,  and  proceeds  to  Rome, 
is  declared  dictator  for  ten  years,  and  censor,  under  the  title  of 
Praefectus  Morum,  403.  Sets  out  for  Spain,  where  the  sons  of  Pompey 
are  in  arms,  totally  defeats  them  near  Munda,  417.  Aspires  to  the 
title  of  king,  and  a  conspiracy  is  formed  against  him,  is  killed  in  the 
senate  house,  425. 

• ,  Augustus.     See  Octavius. 

• ,  Germanicus.     See  Germanicus. 

,  Caius,  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  Syria,  is 
wounded  and  dies  on  his  way  home,  534. 

— — — ,  Lucius  is  admitted  to  the  order  of  manhood,  dies  at  Marseilles, 
533. 

Ca>sarion  is  proclaimed  by  Mark  Antony  heir  to  his  father,  493. 

Caligula,  Caius  Caesar,  admitted  into  the  confidence  of  the  emperor 
Tiberius,  564.  Succeeds  Tiberius  accordingly,  is  killed  by  Chaerea, 
577. 

Camillus  defeats  the  Gauls,  and  relieves  the  capitol,  23. 

Cannes,  battle  of,  72. 

Carbo,  Cneius  Papirius,  consul,  opposes  Sylla  in  Italy,  213.  Is  killed 
by  Pompey,  225. 

Carthage,  its"  local  situation,  reduced  and  burnt,  131.  Is  rebuilt  for  a 
Roman  colony,  171 

Carthaginian  republic,  rise  an'l  progress  of  the,  46.  The  first  Punic 
war,  48.  Second  Punic  war  breaks  out,  60.  Battle  of  Zama,  and  end 
of  this  war,  f>6.  The  Carthaginians  defeated  by  Massinissa,  126.  Are 
required  bv  the  Romans  t;>  abandon  Carthage,  are  finally  subdued  by 
Scipio,  127. 

Catsius,  Sp.  courts  popularity,  is  condemned  on  suspicion  of  treason, 
17. 

.Caius,  begins  ,i  rttMpbatj  against  Cusar.  42».     Appointed  t» 


INDEX.  501 

tn«  gorernment  of  Syria,  438.     Concentrates  tlic  eastern  armies,  4">7. 
Advances  to  Philippi,  461.     Is  defeated  by  Antony,  and  puts  an  end  • 
to  hb  life,  466. 

Catiline,  Lucius  Serjjius,  his  conspiracy,  2fi6. 

Cato,  the  censor,  character  of,  121.  His  eagerness  for  the  destruction 
of  Carthage,  127.  Obtains  a  triumph  at  Roni",  139. 

of  Utica.  character  compared  with  that  of  C;csar,  276.     He  opposes 

the  agrarian  law  J-*7.  He  opposes  Pompov  and  Crassus,  315-  Is 
appointed  to  the  command  of  Sicily,  but  is  f  irced  to  withdraw  from 
it,  372.  Commands  in  Epirus,  3.)7. "  Takes  his  station  at  Utica,  404. 
Kills  himself,  411. 

,  Gaius,  the  tribune,  opposes  the  usual  election  of  magistrates,  31 \. 

Catttlus,  L.  Lutatius,  consul,  partakes  in  the  triumph  at  Rome  with 
Marius,  193. 

•,  Lutatius.  opposes  Pompey,  2:>i. 

Censor,  office  of,  separated  from  that  of  consul,  23.  Is  revived  in  the 
person  of  Julius  Crr.ar,  under  the  title  of  Pracfeetus  Morum,  4(R 

Census,  state  of  the  classes  and  centuries  at  its  establishment,  6.  Num- 
bers of  the  Roman  people  at  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  161.  And 
during  the  consulate  of  Pompej,  213. 

Centumvirs,  appointed  to  assist  the  prretor,  T>2. 

Centuries,  account  of  this  division  of  the  citizens,  5. 

Chtvronca,  battle  of,  212. 

Christ,  birth  of,  533. 

Cicero,  Marcus  Tullius,  birth  of,  191.  Is  elected  consul,  2f>7.  Denoun 
ces  Catiline,  and  detects  the  conspiracy  of  Lentulus,  271.  Recalled 
from  exile,  303.  Appointed  to  the  province  of  Cilicia,  334.  Encour- 
ages Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  declares  against  Antony,  437.  Has  the 
chief  direction  of  affairs  at  Rome,  449.  Is  included  in  the  list  of  the 
proscribed,  flies  from  Rome,  his  death  and  character,  461. 

Cimbri,  (various  barbarous  nations  under  this  name)  defeat  the  Romans 
under  Papirius  Carbo,  177.  Again  defeat  them  under  the  consul 
Silanus,  ISO.  Overcome  two  Roman  armies  on  the  Rhone,  186.  One 
division  routed  by  Marius,  the  other  division  cut  off  by  Catulus  and 
Marius,  193. 

Cincinnatus,  Qninctius,  dictator,  2f. 

Cinna,  Cornelius,  elected  consul,  210.  Prepares  to  oppose  Sylla,  is 
killed  in  a  mutiny,  21  <J. 

Claudius,  brother  to  Germanicus,  is  raised  to  the  sovereignty,  580. 

Cleopatra  engages  the  affections  of  Julius  Caesar,  is  placed  by  Caesar 
on  the  throne  of  Egypt,  400.  Meets  Mark  Antony  in  Cilicia,  472.  Is 
defeated  in  the  battle  of  Actium,  491.  Her  last  interview  with  An- 
tony, her  death,  49  f. 

Clients  and  patrons,  original  Romans  divided  into,  4. 

Clodius,  Publiu*,  profanes  the  sacred  rites,  234.  Elected  a  tribune  of 
the  people,  2U2.  Projects  the  ruin  of  Cicero,  is  killed  in  a  fray  with 
Milo,  303. 

Coin,  Roman,  operation  on,  52. 

Column,  or  line  of  a  Roman  army,  ten  men  deep,  393. 

Comitia,  account  of  the,  33. 

Commons,  and  nobles,  distinction  of,  149. 

Constitution,  Roman,  review  of  the,  33. 

Consul,  office  of,  first  established,  extensive  nature  of,  9.  Claimed  by 
the  plebeians,  and  yielded  to  them,  3  >. 

Corinth,  reduced  and  burned  by  the  Romans,  M7. 

Cortolanus,  proposes  to  abolish  the  office  of  tribune,  Is  obliged  to  fly, 
joins  the  enemies  of  Rome,  15. 

Corn,  gratuitous  distribution  of,  first  proposed,  17. 

Cornelia,  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  expostulates  with  her  son  Caiu«,  167. 

Crassus,  Marcus,  destroys  the  gladiators,  243.  Elected  consul,  247.  lit* 
rreat  private  riches,  218.  Again  elected  consul,  secure*  to  himself 
the  province  of  Syria  for  five  years,  315.  Is  betrayed  by  Surena  \t  a 
conference,  and  slain,  334. 


692  INDEX. 

Crassus,  Publius,  son  of  Marcus,  served  la  Gaul,  Is  detached  to  assia? 

his  father  in  Syria,  324.     Is  cut  off  by  the  Parthians,  334. 
Crete,  inhabitants  of,  are  reduced  by  Metellus,  249; 
Curia,  centuries,  and  tribes,  Roman  citizens  divided  into,  5. 
Curile  axiiles,  'directors  of  the  public  amusements,)  oflice  instituted, 

33. 
Cyrene,  kingdom  of,  becomes  a  Roman  province,  199. 

Decemvirs  vested  with  a  temporary  sovereignty,  18.  Refuse  to  resign, 
are  overturned,  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  Virginia,  20. 

Dictator,  first  nominated,  his  powers,  10. 

Dolabella  stirs  up  tumults  in  Rome,  399.  Assumes  the  office  of  consul, 
429.  Is  appointed  to  supersede  Cassius  in  Syria,  436.  Is  blocked  up 
by  Cassius  in  Laodicea,  and  is  killed,  457. 

Drums,  Livius,  the  tribune,  proposes  several  important  laws,  is  assass- 
inated, 201. 

.  (Germanicus),  defeats  the  German  nations,  his  death,  528. 

,  son  of  Tiberius,  acts  as  quaestor,  542.  Is  sent  to  quell  a 

mutiny  in  the  army,  549.  Is  poisoned  by  Sejanus,  565. 

Dyrrachium,  armies  of  Pompey  and  Caesar  encamp  there,  386. 

Equestrian  order  at  Rome,  notice  of  the,  33. 
Etolians  invite  Antiochus  to  come  into  Greece,  1 03. 

Fabitu  Maximus,  named  pro-dictator,  saves  the  Roman  army,  70. 

Flaccus,  Fulvius,  is  put  to  death  for  sedition,  173. 

Flamininus,  the  Roman  consul,  takes  the  command  in  Greece  against 

Philip,  defeats  Philip,  returns  to  Rome,  and  holds  a  triumph,  97. 
Flaminius,  Caius,  named  consul,  engages  Hannibal,  and  perishes,  with 

great  part  of  his  army,  68, 
Fleet,  Roman,  first  equipment  of  a,  defeats  the  Carthaginian  fleet,  49. 

In  the  time  of  Augustus,  513. 

Gabinius,  the  tribune,  his  speech  in  favour  of  Pompey,  254.    Is  involved 

in  Catiline's  conspiracy,  266.    Tried  for  extortion,  and  forced  into 

exile,  329. 
Gauls,  defeat  the  Roman  army,  and  burn  the  city  of  Rome,  27.    Are 

routed  by  Hannibal,  63. 
Germanicus,  Caesar,  his  marriage  to  Agrippina,  550.    Passes  into  Egypt 

and  dies  at  Antioch,  557. 
Germans,  two  hordes  invade  Gaul,  and  are  cut  off  by  Caesar,  319.     The 

Germans  defeat  the  Romans,  540. 
Gladiators,  revolt  of  those  at  Capua,  defeat  the  Roman  consuls,  are 

finally  suppressed  by  Crassus,  243. 
Gracchus,  Tiberius,  revives  the  agrarian  law,  attempts  to  procure  his 

re-election  into  the  tribunate,  is  slain  in  the  capitol,  151. 
— Caius,  is  elected  a  tribune,  revives  the  agrarian  law,  is  killed 

in  a  fray,  166. 
Greece,  makes  an  ineffectual  struggle  for  liberty,  134. 

Hamilcar  forms  a  settlement  in  Spain,  57. 

Hannibal  succeeds  Hasdrubal  in  commanding  the  Carthaginians  in 
Spain,  57.  Begins  his  march  towards  Italy,  crosses  the  Alps,  defeats 
the  Roman  army  under  Flaminius,  gains  the  great  battle  of  Cannae, 
61.  Is  recalled  from  Italy,  is  routed  in  the  battle  of  Zama,  85.  He 
flies  to  Antiochus  at  Syracuse,  102.  Dies  by  poison,  112. 

Hasdrubal,  son-in-law  of  Hamilcar,  succeeds  him  in  Spain,  57. 

the  son  of  Gisgo,  opposes  Scipio  in  Africa,  is  defeated,  de 

feats  the  Romans,  130. 

Helvetii  propose  to  migrate  to  Gaul,  are  hindered  and  finally  routto 
by  Caesar,  298. 


593 

fmptrator,  title  of,  bestowed  upon  Octavius,  517. 

ttaly,  how  possessed  duriruj  the  first  ages  of  the  Roman  state,  1.  Ro- 
mans become  entire  masters  of,  93. 

Janut,  temple  of,  shut,  54,  501,  517. 

Jerusalem,  sie?e  of  the  temple,  its  reduction,  Pompey  enters  thn  Holy 
of  Holies,  262. 

Jnb.t,  king  of  Numidia,  puts  an  end  to  hfs  life,  414. 

Jnffnr'.hn,  joins  the  Romans  against  the  Numantians,  111.  Aspires  to 
the  kingdom  of  Numidia,  17.r>.  Is  defeated  bv  Metellus,  is  overcome 
by  Marius,  seized  by  Boechus,  and  delivered  up  to  the  Romans,  is 
brought  to  Rome,  and  left  to  perish  in  a  dungeon,  180. 

Julia,  daughter  of  Julius  Caesar,  is  married  to  Pompey,  2f)3. 

.daughter  of  Octavius,  is  married,  }*t,  to  Marcellus,  515  ;  2dly, 

to  Agrippa,  521  ;  and,  '3dly,  to  Tiberius,  5i8.  Her  debaucheries  and 
exile,  531. 

Kalfndir,  Roman,  reformed,  by  direction  of  Julius  Ca:sar,  and  hence 
called  Julian  Kalendar,  116.  " 

7>^'0n,  Roman,  account  of  the  arrangement  of  the,  37.  Difference 
between  the  legion  described  by  Polybius,  and  that  of  Caesar,  38. 
{Note.) 

Lentulus,  Publius  Cornelius,  pnetor,  his  conspiracy  in  favour  of  Cati- 
line, is  put  to  death,  274. 

Lepidus,  M.  -lEmilius,  elected  consul,  is  routed,  234. 

,  Marcus  ^milius,  names  Ca>sar  dictator,  373.  Form*  a  con- 
federacy with  Antony  and  Octavius,  379- 

Lex  Canuleia  passed,  22. 

—  Licinia,  carried  into  execution,  155. 

Tribonia  adopted,  12'2. 

Sempronia,  100. 

Csecilia  Didia,  199. 

—  Falcidia,  477. 

Livia  Drusilla,  is  married  bv  the  emperor  Augustus,  her  zeal  for  tho 
advancement  of  her  son  Tiberius,  4?  >. 

lAvilla  is  married  to  Drusus,  unites  with  Sejanus  in  poisoning  her  hus- 
band, 503. 

Luculltu,  consul,  defeats  Mithridates,  241.  Defeat*  Tigranes,  251. 
Obtains  a  triumph  at  Rome,  278. 

Macedonia,  conquered  by  the  Romans,  118.  Is  reduced  to  a  Romar 
province,  133. 

Macro  is  sent  to  seize  Sejanus,  572. 

Mfrcenas,  Caius  Cilnius,  becomes  the  counsellor  of  Octartut,  469. 
Death  and  character,  531. 

Mardiut  rCapitolinus)  defends  the  capitol  against  the  Oauls,  2\  la 
accused  of  aspiring  to  regal  dignity,  is  put  to  death,  30. 

,  the  consul,  reduces  the  Oalatians,  lot. 

Marcellus,  Marcus  Claudius,  consul,  defeats  Hannibal  at  Nola,  77. 

—————  Marcus  Claudius  urges  the  recall  of  Cnesar  from  Gaul,  35 \. 

Caius  Claudius,  delivers  his  sword,  as  consul,  into  the  hancli 

of  Pompey,  :iG  J. 

•  sues  for  the  consulate  ten  years  before  the  legal  age,  holds 

the  office  of  oedile,  517.     His  death,  5'i9. 

Marius,  Caius,  his  flrst  appearance,  174.  Is  elected  consul,  prosecutes 
the  war  against  Jugurtha,  defeats  him,  1R2.  Is  re-elected  consul,  sctj 
out  for  Gaul,  1^7.  Is  re-elected  a  third,  a  fourth,  and  a  fifth  time, 
assists  Catulus  in  routing  the  Barbarians,  l!ll.  Is  re-elected  a  sixth 
time,  194.  Is  driven  from  Rome  by  Sylla,  is  recalled.  Jus  death,  -J(IS. 

,  the  younger,  opposes  Sylla,  in  defeated  and  kills  himself,  2111. 

Marifillet,  city  of,  invested  and  yielded  up  to  Cxsar,  379. 


594  INDEX. 

Maiinitsa  joins  the  Roman  army  in  Africa  against  the  Carthaginians, 
dispossesses  Syphax,  and  ascends  the  Numidian  throne,  63.  After- 
wards withdraws  from  the  Roman  interest,  131. 

Massacre  ordered  by  Sylla,  223.  By  Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepidus, 
460. 

Memnu'us,  Caius,  forges  an  edict  of  senate,  exposes  the  transaction. 
330. 

Metellus  Macedonicns,  Quintus  Caecilius,  ordered  by  Labeo  to  be 
thrown  from  the  Tarpeian  rock,  161.  Saved  by  the  interposition  of 
another  tribune,  161. 

Numidicus,  Q.  Csecilius,  is  elected  consul,  defeats  Jugurtha 

in  Africa,  180.     Opposes  the  faction  of  Marius,  and  again  elected  to 
the  consulate,  198. 

Pius,  Q.  Ccecilius,  joins  Sylla,  defeats  the  army  of  Carbo,  220. 

Is  elected  consul,  228.     Conducts  the  war  against  Sertorius,  236 

Creticus,  Q.  Csecilius,  is  raised  to  the  consulate,  249.     Reduces 

the  Cretans,  258. 

— — Nepos,  the  tribune,  proposes  to  invite  Pompey  and  his  army 

to  Rome,  279. 

Mile,  tribune,  prosecutes  Clodius  for  his  crimes,  303.  Is  tried  for  the 
murder  of  Clodius,  is  condemned,  and  retires  to  Marseilles,  340. 

Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  involves  himself  in  a  war  with  the  Romans, 
206.  Orders  a  general  massacre  of  the  Roman  citizens  in  Asia,  is 
defeated  by  Sylla,  211.  Takes  possession  of  Cappadocia,  Phrygia,  and 
Bithynia,  240.  His  army  is  destroyed,  collects  a  new  army,  is  totally 
routed  by  Lucullus,  orders  his  women  to  be  put  to  death,  his  flight 
to  Armenia,  241.  Again  makes  head  against  the  Romans,  and  is 
routed  by  Pompey,  puts  a  period  to  his  life,  259. 

Mons  Sacer,  secession  of  a  great  body  of  plebeians  to  the,  11. 

Mummius.  the  Roman  consul,  reduces  Corinth,  137* 

Munda,  battle  of,  418. 

Mutina,  siege  of,  by  Antony,  449. 

Nabis,  tyrant  of  Lacedsemon,  curbed  by  the  Romans,  102. 
Nasica,  Scipio,  overthrows  the  faction  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  158. 
Navy,  Roman,  origin  of  the,  49.  ' 

Nero,  Tiberius  Claudius,  Livia  is  separated  from  him,  478. 
—  Tiberius  Claudius.     See  Tiberius. 

Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  his  weakness,  folly,  and  death,  681. 

Nobles  and  commons,  distinction  of,  149. 

Nonius,  Sufenas,  tribune,  slain  by.  the  faction  of  Saturninus,  195. 

Norbanus,  C.  Junius,  consul,  defeated  by  Sylla,  220. 

Numantia,  in   Spain,  obstinate  resistance  made   by  the  inhabitants 

against  the  Romans,  its  reduction  by  famine,  141. 
Nurnidia.     (See  Syphnx .)    Contest  for  the  crown  of,  175.     (See  Jug w- 

tha)    Becomes  a  Roman  province,  414. 

Oaths,  sacredness  of,  among  the  Romans,  123. 

Octavia,  is  married  to  Mark  Antony,  474. 

Octavius,  Caius,  (Caesar  Augustus),  grand-nephew  of  Julius  Caesar,  his 
first  public  appearance,  assumes  Caesar's  name,  433.  Holds  a  confer- 
ence  with  Antony,  declares  ajrainst  him,  439.  Named  propraetor,  4-47. 
Marches  against  Antony,  and  defeats  him,  450.  The  office  of  consul 
is  granted  to  him,  451.  Forms  a  coalition  with  Antony  Lepidus,  458. 
Passes  into  Greece  against  Brutus  and  Cassius  and  totally  defeats 
them,  46*.  Makes  a  new  partition  of  the  empire  with  Antony,  469. 
Concludes  a  peace  with  Sextus  Pompeius,  475.  Repudiates  his  wife 
Scribonia,  and  marries  Livia  Drusilla,  renews  the  war  with  Sextus, 
478.  He  returns  to  Italy,  his  masterly  policy  there,  482.  Rupture 
with  Antony,  and  totally  defeats  him,  487-  Returns  to  Rome,  his 
three  triumphs,  appropriates  to  himself  the  title  of  imperator,  496. 
The  senate  bestow  on  him  the  title  of  Augustus,  his  political  estab- 
lishment as  emperor,  508.  His  family  and  court,  514.  Begins  to 


I  .VI)  EX.  593 

languish  and  decay,  assumes  Tiberius  as  his  associate  in  the  empire, 
dies,  535.     Mis  Hianir-t.fr.  .0 1  ». 
Orchomenos,  battle  of,  212. 

Parthian*,  are  invaded  by  the  Ro-nnns  under  Crassus,  »nd  defeat  him, 
invade  Syria,  and  are  defeated  by  Ventidius,  cut  off  a  part  of  the 
army  of  Anton v,  -Hi. 

Patrician*  and  Plebeians,  division  of  the  Roman  people  into,  4.  Be- 
come a  complete  aristocracy,  9.  See  Plebeian*. 

Patron*  and  clients,  distinctions  among  the  orijjin.il  Romans,  4. 

Paullut,  L.  Emilius,  the  consul,  is  slain  .it  the  b.ittlo  of  Cann.-e,  72. 

,  Emilius,  son  of  the  former,  elected  consul,  defeats  Perseus  at 

Pydna,  118. 

Perseus,  son  of  Philip,  ascends  the  throne  of  Macedonia,  1 13.  Is  routed 
at  Pydna,  and  taken  prisoner,  IIS. 

Phalanx,  Grecian,  compared  with  the  Roman  legion,  9fi. 

Pharnacet  the  son  of  Mithridates,  defeated  by  Caesar,  402. 

Pharttlia,  great  battlo  of,  29  i.  Comparative  loss  on  the  different  lides 
in  the  action,  395. 

Philip,  king  of  Macedonia,  unites  with  the  Carthaginians  against  th« 
Romans,  is  defeated  and  obliged  to  accept  of  the  terms  of  the  Ro- 
mans, 7:>. 

Phillppi,  battle  of,  4GI. 

Pirate*,  are  dispersed  and  ruined»by  Pompey,  2V1. 

Pin,  Calpurnius,  the  consul,  his  campaign  against  Jugurtha,  173.  Is 
tried  for  the  murder  of  Oermanicus,  puts  himself  to  death,  547. 

Plebeian*  held  in  abject  degradation  by  the  Patricians,  they  extend 
their  powers,  10.  And,  at  last,  fill  ail  the  offices  of  state  along  with 
the  Patricians,  30. 

Policy  of  the  Romans,  111. 

Polybiut,  the  historian,  a  prisoner  in  Italy,  135. 

Pompey,  Cneius,  (surnamed  the  Great,)  birth  of,  191.  Joins  himself  to 
Sylla,  *20.  Finishes  the  war  in  Africa,  returns  to  Rome,  and  obtains 
a  triumph,  is  pronounced  the  Great  by  Sylla,  22 ).  Is  sent  to  Spain, 
and  successfully  finishes  the  war,  232.  Obtains  a  triumph  at  Rome, 
procures  his  election  as  consul  along  with  Crassus,  243-  Is  invested 
with  the  supreme  command  over  all  the  fleets  and  armies  of  the  re- 
public for  three  years,  25*.  Appointed  to  supersede  Lucullus  in 
Pontus,  &c.,  routs  the  army  of  Mithridates,  takes  possession  of  Jer- 
usalem, besieges  and  reduces  the  temple,  enters  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
259.  Arrives  at  Rome,  his  splendid  triumph,  280.  Visits  Ciesar  at 
Lucca,  where  these  leaders  renew  their  confederacy,  elected  to  the 
consulate  a  second  time,  310.  Sole  consul,  33'J.  Renewal  of  his 
government  in  Spain  for  other  five  years,  .'ill.  His  jealousy  of  Ciesar, 
3J3.  Is  invested,  by  the  senate,  with  tin-  supreme  command  over 
the  treasury  and  forces  of  the  republic,  3li'l.  Embarks  for  Epinis, 
369.  His  army  in  Spain  is  subdued  by  Caesar,  374.  Directs  his 
march  towards  Thessaly,  encamps  near  the  village  of  Pharsalu*,  is 
routed  in  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  3,S>  Flics  to  Egypt,  and  is  mur- 
dered by  order  of  Ptolemy  the  X : 

,  Cn;cus,  eldest  son  of  Pompey  the  Great,  heads  an  army  in 
Spain,  in  opposition  to  Cxsar,  is  defeated  and  slain,  417. 

Sextus,  younger  son  of  Pompey  the  Great,  holds  out  in  Sirilr. 

against  the  usurpations  of  tho  second  triumvir.itf,  Jii>  Is  invited 
to  a  personal  conference  with  Octavius  and  Antony,  which  ends  in  a 
treaty  of  peace,  474.  He  returns  to  Sicily,  prepares  for  war  against 
Octavius,  475.  His  fleet  is  total ly  defeated  by  Agrippa,  4SO. 

Pnntut,  kingdom  of.     See  Mithridatet. 

I'ratfect,  or  governor  of  a  province,  first  appoin' 

i'ra-fechu  Annorue,  duties  of  this  occasional  officer,  V». 

I*r<ntor,  institution  of  the  office  of,  confined  to  the  I'.-itriei  IP  order;  .11 
A  i*a*nri  nrvitnr  appointed,  51.  The  number  auzrarnu-d  to  six.  1 4i. 


506  INDEX. 

Praetorian  bands,  first  appointed,  513.     Assume  the  disposal  of  the 

sovereignty  of  the  empire,  584. 
Proscription,  origin  of  this  name  and  practice,  proscriptions  of  Sylla^ 

224.    Of  the  second  triumvirate,  Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepidus, 

460. 

Publius  Sextixls,  is  the  first  plebeian  consul,  32. 
Punic  war,  origin  of  the  first,  48.     Of  the  second,  60.     (See  Hannibal. 

Scipio  A  fricanus. )     The  third,  124. 
Pydna,  battle  of,  118. 
Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  marches  an  army  into  Italy,  40. 

Qucesitor,  president  of  the  criminal  court  at  Rome,  144. 
Quccslor,  account  of  the  office  of,  24. 

Regulus,  Atilius,  the  consul,  is  made  a  captive  in  Africa,  50. 

Religion,  state  of,  among  the  original  Romans,  6. 

Revolutions  in  the  Roman  state  :  change  from  a  monarchy  to  a  repub- 
lic, 7.  From  a  republic  to  an  empire,  414. 

Rhone,  passage  of  the,  by  Hannibal,  62. 

Rome,  extent  of,  under  the  monarchy,  7.  Burned  by  the  Gauls,  27. 
Rebuilding  of,  29.  Taken  by  Sylla,  209.  Is  invested  by  Cinna  and 
Marius,  215.  The  capitol  burned,  221.  O  verflowed  by  an  inunda- 
tion of  the  Tiber,  537. 

Saguntum,  siege  of,  by  Hannibal,  59. 
Salluslius,  Crispus,  is  made  governor  of  Numidia,  424. 
Saturninus,  Apuleius,  the  tribune,  proposes  several  popular  acts,  195. 
Scipio,  Publius  Cornelius,  the  consul,  marches  against  Hannibal,  £3. 
Is  joined  by  Sempronius,  and  defeated,  66. 

Africanus,  Publius  Cornelius,  son  of  the  former,  makes  his 

appearance,   78.     Is  appointed  to  command  the  army  in  Spain,  79. 
Sails  for  Africa,  and  lands  at  Hippo,  83.     Gains  a  complete  victory 
over  Hannibal  at  Zama,  and  dictates  terms  of  peace  to  the  Cartha- 
ginians, 86.     Passes  into  Asia  against  Antiochus,  defeats  the  fcrcei 
of  Asia,  dies  in  a  species  of  voluntary  exile,  106. 

Asiaticus,  Lucius  Cornelius,  brother  of  Africanus,  is  elected 

consul,  totally  defeats  Antiochus  in  Asia,  105. 

Publius  .(Rmilianus,  son  of  ^Emilius  Paullus,  and  adopted  grand- 
son, of  Africanus,  is  appointed  to  the  command  against  Carthage, 
reduces  Carthage,  is  sent  against  the  Numantians  in  Spain,  subduci 
them,  131.  His  death,  160. 

Nasica.     See  Nasica. 

Cornelius  Metellus,  son  of  Nasica,  the  colleague  of  Pompey  in 

the  consulate,  commands  the  main  body  of  the  army  at  Pharsalia, 
386.  Assembles  an  army  in  Africa,  404.  Is  defeated  by  Caesar  .it 
Thapsus,  41U.  Kills  himself,  414. 

Sejanus,  JElius,  his  mission  to  the  mutinous  legions  on  the  Danube, 
549.  Becomes  the  confidential  favourite  of  Tiberius,  563.  Is  de- 
nounced to  the  senate  as  guilty  of  treason,  and  condemned  to  death, 
cruel  fate  of  his  infant  children,  571. 

Sempronius,  Tiberius  Long-us,  the  consul,  joins  Scipio,  in  order  to 
repel  Hannibal,  and  is  defeated,  (i6. 

,  the  Roman  proconsul,  defeated  in  Spain  by  the  natives, 

101. 

Senate,  under  the  monarchy,  5.  Under  the  aristocracy,  9.  Restored 
after  the  usurpation  of  the  decemvirs,  20.  Review  of  the  constitution 
of  the  senate,  33.  The  senate  comes  to  be  entirely  modelled  by  Au- 
gustus, 523.  Complete  degradation,  570. 

Sertorius,  harbours  the  Marian  party  in  Spain,  defeats  Pompey,  is  be- 
trayed and  assassinated,  235. 

Sfxtius,  Publius,  the  first  plebeian  raised  to  the  dignity  of  consul,  3'~ 


INDEX.  ttf 

Sicily,  rcTolt  of  the  slaves  in,  1 43.     Another  revolt,  19!. 

fophonitba,  daughter  of  Hannibal,  stipulates  with  the  king  of  Numidia, 
to  aid  the  Carthaginians,  S3. 

Spain,  Hamilcar  forms  a  srttloment  in,  5s.  I'm^res*  of  the  Romany 
in  the  conquest  of  Spain,  101—138.  Several  warlike  cantons  retain. 
ins  their  independence,  are  reduced,  515. 

Sp'irtnciif,  leader  of  the  revolted  gladiators,  defeats  the  Roman  consul, 
but  is  routed,  and  killed  by  Crassus,  2i4. 

Sumptuary  laws  of  the  Romans,  remarks  on  the,  122.  These  laws  re- 
vived, 146.  Further  account  of  them,  1'jo. 

Sylla,  L.  Corn,  the  quaestor,  serves  in  the  war  against  Jugurth.-i,  14. 
Is  elected  praetor,  is  sent  into  Asia,  200.  Is  elected  consul,  prepares 
for  war  with  Mithridates,  is  recalled,  marches  in  a  hostile  manner 
and  takes  Rome,  206.  Sets  out  for  Asia, takes  Athens,  defeats  the 
army  of  Mithridates,  near  Cheronea,  and  again,  at  Orchonirnos. 
receives  the  submission  of  Mithridates,  set  sails  for  Italy,  210.  De- 
feats Norbanus  the  consul,  defeats  the  young  Marius,  enters  the  city 
routs  the  Marian  party,  orders  a  massacre,  219.  Procures  his  nom- 
ination as  dictator,  reforms  the  commonwealth,  resigns  the  dictator 
ship,  225.  His  character,  death,  and  obsequies,  231.  His  character 
contrasted  with  that  of  Julius  Czrsar,  415. 

Syphax,  king  of  Numidia,  joins  with  the  Carthaginians,  and  loses  his 
throne,  83. 

Syria  becomes  a  Roman  province,  261. 

Tnblft,  twelve,  of  the  Roman  law,  prepared  by  the  decemvirs,  13. 

Tfiaptut,  battle  of,  410. 

Theatre  at  Rome,  condemned,  as  likely  to  become  a  source  of  corrup- 
tion, 146.  Theatre  of  Pompey  opened,  U.  C.,  698. 

Thermonyltr,  battle  of,  in  which  Antiochus  is  defeated  by  the  Romans, 
106. 

Tiberius,  Claudius  Nero,  games  exhibited  in  tame  of,  517.  Commis- 
sion to  Armenia,  522.  Is  advanced  in  the  confidence  of  the  emperor, 
and  marries  his  daughter  Julia,  527.  Is  adopted  by  the  emperor, 
535.  Is  associated  with  Augustus  in  the  empire,  513.  Review  of  his 
reign,  his  cruelty,  his  odious  life,  his  death,  559. 

Gracchus.     See  Gracchut. 

Tipranct,  king  of  Armenia,  refuses  to  deliver  up  Mithridates  to  thu 
Romans,  is  defeated  by  Lucullus,  2jO.  Casts  himself  on  the  mercy 
of  Pompey,  260. 

Treamry,  public,  directly  under  the  administration  of  the  senate,  35 

Trebia,  battle  of  the,  66. 

Trialt,  criminal,  regulations  respecting,  339.  Important  innovation 
by  Augustus,  530. 

Tribe*,  account  of  this  division  of  the  Roman  citizens,  6. 

of  the  city,  notice  of,  1:>0. 

Tribune,  the  office  of,  first  instituted,  nature  of  explained,  their  number 
fixed  at  ten,  '.2.  Great  abuses  take  place  in  the  exercise  of  the  tri- 
bunitian  power,  207.  Restraints  on  the,  removed  by  Pompey,  2-J7. 

Tribune*,  military,  plebeians  admitted  to  be  elected,  1'J. 

Triumph,  institution  and  nature  of  the,  6. 

Triumvirate,  combination  of  C«sar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus,  so  called, 
Second  triumvirate,  Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepiclus,  atrocity 
of  the  articles  of  their  agreement,  character  of  each,  458. 

Utfcft,  in  Africa,  becomes  the  station  of  Cato  after  the  battle  of  Pharsa. 
lia,  404.  Ca-sar  defeats  Scipio  and  Cato  there,  411. 

raferiut,  Manlus,  Is  chosen  dictator,  II. 

Parro,  C.  Terentius,  elected  to  the  consulship,  is  defeated  at 

72. 
one  of  Pompey's  lieutenants  in  Sp.iin,  372. 


598  INDEX. 

PWo,  city  of,  la  besieged  for  ten  years,  reduced. a  d  Its  citizens  en 

slaved,  by  the  Romans,  26. 
Ventidius,  the  lieutenant  of  Antony,  defeats  the  Parthians,  and  expeh 

them  from  Syria,  476. 
Vercingetorix  heads  the  Qauls  in  opposing  Caesar,  is  routed  and  take* 

and  put  to  death,  349. 
Vespasian  raised  to  the  sovereignty,  585. 
yiriaihet  defends  Lusitania  for  tea  years  agafost  the  Romans,  but  k 

at  last  assassinated,  138. 
Virginia  is  killed  by  her  own  father,  to  prevent  her  dishonour  by  AJT 

pius  Claudius,  20. 

Zoo*  fmat  tottl*  at  ML 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEP 

TO—  ^-      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

4 

5 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  day 
Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling  642-3405. 


DUE  AS  STAMPED 

llBRARYUSt 

flCT  1  1  ^ 

^IAN  o  2  2003 

DE^oS  1991 

MAY  2  9  Z007 

f"ii£- 

~~*>  «  ;  *" 

-nT 

CIRCULATION  u 

:PT- 

rtinT  1  A  lQr 

OCT  1*  » 

HAY  2  fi  °nm 

IPrtl  w  c  LUU  i 

U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


384546 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


